2 One Month One War
by Pengping
Summary: Pre-Thor. Sequel to "1 The Supers Before the Heroes." Tilaria has returned to Alfheim knowing Hallien will kill her. She however, is not the true threat to Alfheim. She is the only one who can protect Alfheim from a dangerous traitor in the highest ranks. Unfortunately, as Hel, the Goddess of Death, discovers when a soul comes to her, someone isn't making it through this war alive.
1. Prologue

Alfheim, the home of the Eladrin – the rest of the Realms know them as Light Elves. It is a place of great beauty, a paradise among the Nine Realms. To those Alfheim likes, that is true.

Unfortunately, I am not one of those. I am one of those Alfheim and all its inhabitants would rather kill.

My name is Tilaria. Just Tilaria. I have no right to call myself Halliendottir after my foster father.

Alfheim hates me for many reasons.

First, I am a half-breed. I am a creature who would dare dilute the elves perfect blood by having an Æsir for a mother.

Second, I just came back from a trip to Asgard. I went with King Hallien's new ambassador and childhood friend Arlen. Things went well, I met Asgard's Princes and despite a bad first impression, I think of them fondly. Then I had to kill Arlen to protect those Princes. I may have killed Arlen in self-defense but I knew Hallien would make me pay.

My magic is as tainted as my blood but in order to protect Alfheim, Hallien will have to trust me for I am the only one that can save his realm. Now if only I had a reason why I should…

* * *

><p><strong>A note: i like having a prologue or epilogue on some of my stories so if i do the numbreing is going to be off, sorry. I don't do first person very often but it seemed fitting here.<strong>

**Anyway, here you go!**


	2. 1 Warm Welcome

**Chapter 1: Warm Welcome**

The Bifrost set its passenger down on Alfheim soil as gently as it could. The shock of solid ground still made it feel like she had jumped off a roof and her ankles and knees took the brunt of the shock. Tilaria did not let her legs buckle. Her goodbye with the Princes a few minutes ago had bought her time and Arlen's body was gone with his aids. The clearing was empty save for King Hallien.

Tilaria gulped silently. Her intense mental training that she had undergone as a child – that all elf children had – kept her from cringing as Hallien walked over. He said nothing, his eyes, so pale a blue they looked like chips of ice, stared at Tilaria's deep fuchsia eyes. She was scared, but did not show it. Hallien's expression was flawlessly neutral.

Tilaria lowered her eyes – a submissive gesture – and waited for him to speak.

"Do you have any defense for killing my council member half-breed?" Hallien asked, a flash of anger illuminating his otherwise emotionless eyes.

"He attempted to kill me." Tilaria replied, careful to keep her hands by her side, her palms flat. She did not want to appear threatening right now. She was walking a knife's edge between life and death and it was Hallien's blade she was walking on.

"Your life is not worth Arlen's or any elf." Hallien spat, showing a rare flare of emotion. One of his hands rested on his dagger by his side, fingers straying on its hilt.

Tilaria hesitated. This would not work. So I'll just throw the truth at him. "Arlen was ordered to kill Asgard's Princes. I stopped him. In order to do that, I killed him." She took a step forward, tilting her head up to meet Hallien's furious gaze. "I wandered who ordered him to do so. Who on Alfheim could possibly want two Æsir boys dead? That would leave Asgard in chaos and after all, a chaotic Asgard is one easily conquered. Now I can guess but I do not have to, after all you -"

Arlen did not let her finish her sentence. He struck her with his hand rather than blade.

Tilaria quieted. "Well," she hummed after a moment, lifting her head to show Hallien's hand print on her cheek. "Now I feel at home."

"You have no right!" Hallien shouted. Elves suppress their emotions, to anger one was hard to do - not something you wanted to be close enough to see - and Tilaria was an expert at it. "No right at all!"

There was a hiss of metal being drawn and Hallien's dagger glittered in the midday sun. Tilaria's first reflex was to draw her own blade. She grabbed the hilt but stopped short of drawing it. The only reason she had survived her fight with Arlen was because of blood, there was no way she would beat the King of Elves without it.

"Every being has a right to life." Tilaria whispered , purposely trying to anger him. The more upset he was, the less he would think. "Even me. Or do you say I had no right to interrupt your plot to overthrow Asgard by saving two other lives?"

Hallien raised his blade, his hand trembling with anger. "Your right?!" He laughed, a short harsh sound. "Your right was to die!" The King shook his head, placing his other hand behind his back, letting a hex charge. "When my Queen found you, abandoned in the forest, she brought you back to the Palace. You were left out there to die! Anastasia should have left you there! And even after she died I was robbed of my right to throw you back out to the forest by her wish for me to raise you. And I have. I have. And you, who has no right to the life you have, you dare rob Arlen of his own!"

Tilaria's sense caught a flicker of magic around his form but he lashed out with a hex before she could move. It was a freeze-hex that paralyzed her with her blade half-drawn.

Hallien stalked, or you could say, strutted, forward and placed his dagger under Tilaria's chin, using it to tilt her head up. "You half-breed," he hissed softly, his eyes an inch from hers, "you have gone too far."

Tilaria tried desperately to move even a finger, but could do no more than blink. The paralysis of the hex was complete, even her magic was frozen, in reach but unable to respond to her touch. It was frustrating. But she realized that though her magic was like her body, frozen, for whatever reason, her telepathy was untouched.

_*My name is not Half breed, it is Tilaria*_ She hissed mentally.

Hallien jumped back in shock, his blade scratching her. Tilaria could feel the drop of blood running down her neck. The mighty king of Alfheim stared, unable to comprehend. How something as simple as a freeze-hex could be thwarted so deftly by this thing frozen in front of him.

Realizing she could mindspeak perfectly, Tilaria lashed out at Hallien with a mindflare.

Hallien brushed off her clumsy telepathic attack, deftly shredding it before it even touched the shields around his mind. Snarling, he responded with a mindflare of his own as if to show her how it was done. Her natural telepathic abilities gave her strong mental shields but she had undergone no training and Hallien tore right through , the effect of his mindflare destroying the freeze-hex. She could move but it did her no good now.

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed instantly.

It felt like someone had hit her in the head with a tray – and Tilaria could say that hurt – but the pain echoed across her entire mind, spreading like fire. The pain faded within a few seconds but the mind was left reeling. This was a higher level attack and her mind remained in shock.

Tilaria was on the ground, curled in a fetal position, breathing ragged, heartbeat quickened unnaturally, trying to gather her thoughts together. She knew who she was and what was going on but not what to do what she should be doing. Her body recovered but her mind was still curled in a corner, hiding from pain, unwilling to follow Tilaria's orders. Her blade, which she had managed to draw somehow as she fell, was lying next to one of her hands, her fingertips almost touching the hilt.

A shadow fell over her and her sensitive hearing detected elfin soft steps.

She desperately reached toward her blade, less than an inch from her fingers but her body was unwilling to move. Her fingers touched the hilt and she tried to pull it closer, her body was a mess and her magic was worse, a blade was all she had. Almost all…

The heel of a boot came down on her hand. Tilaria gave a chocked noise, even her voice was having trouble working. Hallien ground his boot and she could feel bones cracking.

The blood on her neck disappeared and she used its power to burn out the last of the mindflare with help from pain and adrenaline. She had control again.

With a rush that came only from the Dark Magic, she slammed the heel of her free hand on Hallien's talus. It did not break, not with him wearing boots, but it was enough for him to step back.

That gave her the gap she needed to snatch up her blade with her injured hand and toss it to her unbroken one, jumping to her feet with a defiant look in her eyes.

Hallien sheathed his dagger with a sigh, making Tilaria hesitate. "Ah damn it," he swore and waved his hand. A gun materialized. No, not a gun, a phaser. What the hel was Hallien doing with a phaser?!

Hallien pulled the trigger. Tilaria tried to sidestep it but she felt the whiplash recoil of using Arcane magic. It made her eyesight blur and she could see shadows around the edges. It was not enough to make her black out but it was enough to make her hesitate. The bolt of plasma from the phaser did the rest.

* * *

><p><strong>Yep. Phaser. A Dark Elf phaser to be exact. Svartalfheim (Svarta) is offlimits to all the races of the realms but someones disobeying Asgard. Dark Magic and Arcane can be used interchangibly. <strong>

**Stupid grammar check always wants to minimize the 'A' in Arcane...**


	3. 2 Arlen

**Chapter 2: Arlen**

"Are you certain?"

"Yes, my king, Arlen was killed by Arcane magic."

Hallien hissed at the answer but after his brief duel with the half-breed, could not say he was surprised. He thought she had shrugged off that mindflare too quickly. He slammed a hand against the stone wall, cracking it. "Could she have learned it on Asgard?" He asked in a low, even voice that made the medic with him wince internally.

The perfectly calm voice sent a shiver down her spine. Alyndra would rather he be yelling. "Not to this degree," she measured her reply carefully. Hallien had just got his phaser two days ago, the day after Tilaria and Arlen had gone to Asgard but he liked it. Alyndra did not want to test it out.

The building the two elves were in functioned as an examination room for Alyndra and was one of the few to be covered in stone tiles. Hallien stood next to his friend's body and carefully pulled the white sheet that covered Arlen back.

Arlen's eyes were closed. He almost looked like he was sleeping. If it wasn't for the bite marks on his throat and the unnatural whiteness of his skin, Hallien could imagine he was. Arlen had always spoken that blood magic was dangerous and that if it did not kill the mage it would kill someone else – an innocent. Now he was dead by blood magic, it was the ultimate in hurtful ironies.

Hallien felt an odd tightness in his chest as he gazed at his friend's body, his throat seemed scratchy and his eyes stung. He did not trust himself to speak.

Alyndra took the lack of response as permission to continue. "The bite marks on his neck are consistent with a wolf. Since there is no blood left, it can be reasoned that the Dark magic in question was blood."

Hallien ignored her and carefully brushed a lock of Arlen's hair out of his eyes. Arlen had hated having his hair in his eyes. When they were younger, Arlen had cut his long, night black hair down to a very short and messy bob. His mother had not been pleased. Very few elves liked their hair short. Many Dark Elves had short hair, so the light elves kept their long.

"Sir? Sir…"

Hallien's attention was dragged from the memory by Alyndra's voice. "Yes," he asked, his voice tired.

"I said you should kill the half breed." Alyndra repeated. "You have tried to raise her as a civilized elf and this," she glanced at Arlen, "is the result."

Hallien did not respond. In life Arlen's eyes had been such an odd purple color, ranging from lavender to violet black depending on his moods. Now they were glazed over white, the unique color lost. "I will think on the matter." Hallien promised. He carefully lifted the silken cover and placed it over Arlen's face with trembling hands.

"Think on it?" Alyndra's eyes widened. "Sir, she's already killed one of your council and she tried to kill you just a few hours ago. Again! You have to-"

"I have to what, Alyndra?" Hallien snarled. "Are you giving me orders?"

Alyndra gulped. She had pushed him too hard. Hallien and Arlen had been as close as brothers in life, he would be grieving even if his training prevented him from showing it. She wished he hadn't insisted to see Arlen's body, he might be a bit more stable. "No sir," she lowered her eyes submissively.

"You had best not," Hallien warned, storming out. He did not get his temper under control until he was outside. His feet took him to the river that ran through the capital, or more precisely to some large, flat gray stones away from the town.

Myrin, Commander of the Immortal Guard, the force that was the backbone of the light elves army, looked up from speaking to a cadet as Hallien stalked by. He frowned. It might be better that he go calm his childhood friend down. Then again, he had to be hurting from Arlen, maybe it was best not to…

The river by the stones was clear all away to the pebbled bottom and Hallien leaned over it to see his reflection. It burbled cheerfully as it wove its way and came right up next to the flat stones. Sunning Stones, Arlen had named them. The boys had spent many a lazy afternoon on those stones, gazing at the dragonflies dancing around the river and the rare beams of sunlight that fell through the trees.

Hallien sat on the Sunning Stones and took his crown from his brow and set it on the rocks next to him. A memory unbidden, surfaced.

Hallien and Arlen, young boys. Arlen had noticed how Hallien had gazed at his father's circlet and when no one was looking, had stolen it. Arlen had revealed the theft on the Sunning Stones. Hallien had been all for giving it back but his father was resting that day, no one had noticed it was gone. So Arlen had talked him into keeping it for a few hours, even crowned him atop the stones.

Everything had been going nicely until the crown, too big for Hallien, had fallen into the river.

Hallien smiled softly at the memory of the two of them jumping into the river, each trying to grab it before the current swept it too far downriver to the waterfall. They had managed to retrieve it and replace it without anyone being the wiser but both boys had gotten sick.

He carefully set the circlet away from the river, being a little too old to repeat that adventure. He cupped his hands and dipped them into the river, taking a sip. The river water was cool and sweet, pure, untainted by the capital that it ran through upriver.

The king of Alfheim slowly laid back on the Sunning Stones, his arms crossed behind his head, staring at dragonflies as they chased each other around. Hallien wished that he was a child again, back when things were simpler.

He held out his hand and gazed at the river. One of the stones rose up out of the water and came to his hand. It was a good stone, nice and smooth and almost round. Arlen and Hallien had long been engaged in a battle to see who could have the most skips. Even as adults, they had never dropped the habit. Last week, Arlen had set a new record of twenty-seven skips.

He moved his arm back and threw it counting the skips silently, another memory appearing. _One_… Arlen being lifted off his feet by two Immortal Guard. _Two_… "Let him go! Let him go!" Hallien shouting at the Guard, "That is an order from your prince!" _Three_… Hallien being stopped from giving chase by his father. _Four_… The gates closing behind Arlen, the two friends on opposite sides. _Five_… "He has black hair Hallien," his father's explanation. "He has Dark Elf blood." _Six_… "I will not have my son fraternizing with a common boy, one that has Dark Elf blood!" His mother's voice. _Seven_… "The only thing Dark Elfin about Arlen is his hair color!" Hallien had shouted back. _Eight_… "That is enough."

The stone sank. Eight skips.

Hallien's eyes were stinging again.

His father had not been pleased when he realized his son had befriended an elf with black hair. Those with black hair had a trace of Dark Elf blood in them. They were second class citizens; the rest of the elves shunned them. Most believed that the night hairs were tainted by the Kaldorei blood and should be dead already.

It was not fair. Arlen had been one of his closest friends. After that incident in the palace, his parents had done their best to separate him. Hallien had done his best to make sure it did not work.

After his mother had been killed by Dark Elves, his father had let the two boys have contact again, as long as that "black haired barbarian does not cross the palace threshold," his father's words. His father had no doubt been hoping that since Hallien's mother had bene killed by a dark elf and Arlen had a trace of Dark Elf blood that a rift would form between the two boys.

The opposite happened. Arlen still had his mother and the boys had taken care never to tell his mother that his friend was really Prince Hallien. When his mother, a black haired elf named Meira, had found out that Hallien had lost his mother her first instinct was to comfort him. For all the injustices the rest of the elves had committed to her, Meira had comforted the little blonde prince.

Arlen's father was a blonde elf who had gone from member of the king's council to second class citizen, ranking even below the commoners. All because he had dared custom to marry the elf he loved. later, he had been murderded for the same crime and the elves who took credit for it could not be prosecuted as they were "pure." No one had bothered to anyway. It had always frustrated Hallien, the prejudice Arlen had been up against.

He remembered, fondly, the shock on the rest of the elves faces when, after being crowned, Hallien had shown in his third council member and second in command. Arlen.

But Arlen was gone just like his parents, and Hallien was not aware that he had any children. All gone, all because of that Half-Breed. Arlen had been like a brother to him, and Hallien had wished that Arlen's parents had been his own many a time. Arlen's parents had died before Anastasia had ever found Tilaria, but he still added them to her death toll. But wasn't that the same thing?

Being prejudice against Tilaria because her mother was Æsir was like judging Arlen because of his black hair.

But this was not about blood; this was a case of simple murder. He should treat this as such.

Hallien sighed and picked up his crown. For the first time since he had been crowned he wanted to throw it in the river.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello, please leave a nice review for me to look at. I want reviews. Having another set of eyes reading over my stories make them better, not worse.<strong>

**As for Hallien, what do you think about him now?**


	4. 3 Caught

**Chapter 3: Caught**

When Tilaria regained consciousness she noticed two things: first, she wasn't in her room and second, her arms hurt.

She opened her eyes and sighed when she realized where she was. In the dungeons – again. Her wrists had a set of restrainer cuffs on them. The restraint went around a bar sunk into the side of the stone wall, trapping her hands around it.

She sat up slowly in a bid to escape a headache. It didn't work. Tilaria always got the worst headaches when she was the downside of an Arcane rush, the only cure was more Arcane magic. But the restrainer cuffs were too good at siphoning off her magic so there went that option.

Tilaria pulled on the bar but it didn't budge. She wasn't surprised. "Wonderful," She muttered.

Her cell was small, about nine by nine feet and seven high. The stone floors and roof were perfectly smooth with right corners and not a single window. The only break from the tan stone was the swirling green energy barrier that covered the fourth wall and served as entrance and exit.

The energy barrier was held in place with four small green crystals outside the cell, one on each corner. If you faced the cell there was a control panel on the right that controlled the forceshield over the exit. If you could wedge a throwing knife under the panel you could crosswire it to deactivate, but you had to be outside the cell to do so. You did not want to damage any of the four crystals that powered the forceshield. Only one prison break had tried that tactic. After that, everyone had decided they would just as soon stay in their cells.

Tilaria's sensitive ears pricked up at the sound of booted footsteps, the steps were too quick and light to be an Immortal Guard and they did not march. She braced for Hallien but it wasn't him. "Daris?" The Halfling asked, trying to stand up.

"Hello Tilaria." Daris Anarson, son of the infamous traitor Anar, greeted with a tired half-smile.

It was refreshing to have someone call her by her name, Tilaria decided, and a change. Elves may be raised believing that the Æsir were inferior compared to them but at least Æsir call me by my name.

Daris looked tired, even through the distorting effect of the forceshield. His dark red hair was messy and his robe of fern and spiderweb silk creased, his collar only half turned down. There were shadows under his twilight blue eyes.

"Daris," Tilaria repeated. "You look tired."

Daris clicked his fingers. His hair and clothes fixed themselves. Tilaria had to learn that charm. "I have been up for three days trying to translate a new grimorie, I finally did it a few hours ago. My dear, did Hallien really draw his blaster on you?"

The worry in his voice warmed Tilaria. She knew Daris's concern was sincere. Daris was the one who had dared to call her by her given name and ignored Hallien's directive that she would never receive battle training. He was the one who had shown her a grimorie of blood magic. If anyone was her father, it was Daris, not Hallien.

"Yes." She sighed. "I am amazed that I am here and not dead." She tugged at the bar again to no avail and raised her cuffs to her eyes. Using her teeth, she pulled a small silver lock pick from her vanguard and placed it in her right hand. Maybe she could get these open like the last set…

Daris noticed what she was trying to do. "You cannot pick those my dear." He offered. "New design."

Tilaria stopped, curling her hand around the pick. She scowled at the cuffs. "Daris, you are on Hallien's Council, what is he planning?"

Daris sighed. "A trial on charges of murder."

Tilaria snorted. Daris raised an eyebrow slightly in surprise, making the girl blush slightly. One of the things she'd picked up from the Æsir.

"I suppose I already know the outcome." She growled, trying to tear the bar out of the wall again. She decided to stop doing that, it was just hurting her wrists.

"I am sorry Tilaria." Daris murmured, lifting his hand to the energy barrier. He didn't touch it, the forceshield burned anyone who touched it.

"It is not your fault." Tilaria responded just as quietly. After hesitation she spoke again. "He cut my neck. I had blood to use and I did not use it, I used it to shrug off the mindflare but not to attack. If I had…"

Daris was already shaking his head. "Do not worry about what has happened, only what will." He took a step back. "Arcane is a very powerful type of magic, it is instinctive for mages to use their magic rather than the dark magic that is Arcane. It is a bad habit that will take a while yet to break. Taking life to sustain your magic is necessary. You will adapt. What you did with Arlen was a good step in learning that."

His words spooked Tilaria slightly but she waved off the feeling and made herself nod. Daris and Eragon were the only elves who liked her, or even treated her like a person. She did not want to lose Daris's affection. Tilaria shooed the thoughts away and was about to say something when Daris held up a hand.

"I will speak to you after Hallien's _trial_." He hissed the last word and turned invisible.

After a few seconds a guard walked into sight on his normal patrol.

Tilaria slumped against the wall, trying to burn a hole in her restrainer cuffs with her glare.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope that i am doing this right when it comes to adding a note. I sometimes post more then one chapter at a time so here is the next one. Do you think its nice that Tilaria has Daris on her side? Read on - well, read on as soon as i post the next chapter - and see.<strong>


	5. 4 Tension

**Chapter 4: Tension**

The elfin female out in the courtyard – the equivalent of her rank would be Sublieutenant, a step above cadet – was careful to keep her stance perfect. She, her name being Kiri, thought that Staminata was a singularly annoying technique. But it was required for Immortal Guard to know how to do it.

And to think, Kiri hummed to herself, all the Æsir do to train is attack each other with blades.

Staminata forced Kiri to keep the same stance for hours on end or moving so slowly that someone watching would not see the movement. Some were easy, others, like the one she was doing, seriously tested her balance and most of all stamina. Kiri had one palm in extended in front of her and she was busy glaring at it, trying to keep her fingers from curling toward her palm.

"Your stance is too close." Someone spoke.

The voice jolted Kiri from the Staminata induced daze. She lost her balance and one of her legs cramped, forcing her to land on her knees, hands in front of her to keep from falling completely. She knew that voice. "Rane were not you taught not to interrupt a Staminata session?"

"I was."

Kiri extended her cramped leg and massaged it, debating whether or not to use some of the little bit of magic she had to heal it. "Æsir." She muttered.

"I am not, and there is no reason to be so insulting." Rane replied, kneeling beside her. He had even less magic then she did but let two of his fingers trail on the cramp, using the magic he had to fix it. "Forgiven?" he asked. "I have become used to company in bed." Rane let his fingers touch Kiri's cheek with a feather light stroke.

Kiri gazed at him. While their relationship was not a secret no one minded. Rane was a Lieutenant, she was a Sublieutenant. The Elves believed that their Immortal Guard were mature enough to end a relationship if it got out of hand, even when it was between a superior officer and a subordinate. Of course, the same didn't apply to the Silver Arrows, but those archers had no real power anymore.

"Forgiven." Kiri sighed, leaning into his touch.

Rane hummed his satisfaction. "I came to tell you that the half-breed has returned."

"Half-breed?" Kiri frowned. There were three elf/Æsir hybrids on Alfheim. Oh! He meant _the_ half-breed, Tilaria. "Has something happened?"

Rane scoffed softly, "she tried to kill our King _again_. His Majesty took her down with his phaser."

Kiri's ears perked up at her lover's wording. "Took her down? She breathes still?"

Rane leaned away from her and stood up.

Kiri looked up at him curiously but did as well.

"She should not be. If the records are accurate, this is the second time she has fought our king with intent to kill. I do not know why he has not disposed of her already." Rane growled, clearly frustrated.

"Hallien will have his reasons." Kiri tried to assure him, "even if he does not choose to show them."

"He is going to put that _thing_ on trial." Rane hissed. "What if she is found innocent? Will he let her walk free and taint us with her presence once more?"

"She has killed Hallien's ally Arlen. I find an innocent verdict unlikely." Kiri responded dryly. She herself had never met Tilaria and she knew Rane hadn't either, but stories of her actions ranged around Alfheim. Kiri had wandered if Tilaria truly deserved the reputation she had, but if she had killed Arlen without any provocation as the rumors said then Kiri supposed her reputation fit.

"Then why does he bother with a trial?" Rane demanded.

Kiri shook her head. Rane would never change. "Because all criminals apprehended alive are allowed a trial. That is how things are done."

"That hybrid does not deserve it."

"Maybe she does not." Kiri agreed. "But it is Hallien's decision. Not ours."

"Maybe Hallien should not be king." Rane muttered at his boots.

"Rane!" Kiri gasped. "Stop that. That is traitor's talk. Hallien is a good king."

"Then why does he turn down Daris's idea?" Rane challenged. "It has merit."

"Because stealing technology from Svartalfheim is not a good idea." Kiri responded. Rane truly would not change. "The Dark Elves destroyed themselves with their phasers and starships. Taking that technology as our own cannot end well despite what Daris says."

"But the power…" Rane sighed. "No one would dare oppose us – especially not those worthless Æsir."

Kiri gazed at Rane softly. "If we take their technology we will eventually start using their magic. And no prize is worth the cost of using that twisted, Arcane side of magic. Hallien knows this. That is why Svarta is off limits. It is for our own good."

"If it is for our own good then why does Hallien carry a Kaldorei energy phaser at his side now? If he can use it, why not us?" Rane demanded his voice low and harsh.

"Because he is our king." Kiri answered simply.

"Bah!" Rane waved a hand in dismissal.

Kiri felt a flash of anger. Hallien was not perfect, no mortal could be, but he was a good king. Daris had put him in an impossible position with his request to scavenge Svarta. "He is doing his best to protect us."

"He is smothering us. We have untapped potential, potential that we can find with that knowledge. The new spells alone…"

"You mean the new curses alone." Kiri snapped. Rane was repeating the same argument Daris had thrown at Hallien. Daris had given this ridiculous request less than an hour after Arlen had left for Asgard knowing that without Arlen to give him counsel, Hallien would be at a disadvantage. "The Kaldorei destroyed themselves with that knowledge. And as if there anything worthwhile left after five millennium of sitting there."

Wonderful, Rane growled to himself. Kiri was using Hallien's argument word for word. "Hallien is acting like an Æsir."

Kiri tensed at the insult. "I have a shift in a half hour. I must retrieve my armor." She spoke with icy cold politeness.

"Dismissed Sublieutenant." Rane growled.

Kiri saluted stiffly and walked off, her stance stiff with anger.

Why could Kiri not see that Hallien was making a mistake on this call? Rane wondered. Because she is a nice Sublieutenant, loyal to a fault, the model soldier. He walked off in the opposite direction.

* * *

><p>Kiri stalked around the corner of the hall, heading to her quarters in the barracks. Rane is an idiot, she decided. Hallien was their king. Their job as Immortal Guard was not to question him, it was to follow his orders. What would Alfheim turn into if the King could not depend on his Guard? Unfortunately, she knew many other elves agreed with Rane, but one bad call is no excuse to speak of dethroning their king! The last traitor was Anar and it had not ended well for him.<p>

She was not looking where she was going, one hand trying to strangle the hilt of her saber, lost in her stormy thoughts, and when she turned another corner and ran into something. The object stumbled backwards and fell on his back with a noise of surprise.

Kiri looked down, expecting a servant's child. She chocked back her words of retaliation when she realized she had knocked Prince Eragon off his feet. Her Prince sat up warily, rubbing his head. "Ow," he muttered.

"M-My Prince!" Kiri stuttered. "Forgive me I was not expecting you." She bowed but did not kneel. She was no Æsir.

"You may stand." Eragon told her. He was still sitting on the floor, but smiling.

Kiri hesitantly straightened and after a moment held out her hand.

Eragon took it, and the Sublieutenant helped him to his feet. He gave a short nod of thanks. "Have you seen Tilly-ah Tilaria?" Eragon asked her, accidentally using his pet name for his foster sister. He hated the fact that she had gone to Asgard and left him alone. Now that she was here, he wanted to be around her, not wandering the whole realm looking for her.

Kiri was not expecting that question.

"I know Arlen is back, or rather his body." Eragon broke off and bit his lip. He was worried about Tilly but no one he had asked had deigned to tell him what had happened to her.

Kiri gazed at him, unsure how to respond. He was young, barely nine years old, so sweet and innocent. "I have not seen her." Kiri told him truthfully. Did not the boy know that his sister was in the dungeon? She thought about telling him but decided against it. The last time King Hallien had thrown Tilaria in the dungeon Eragon had snuck down there and spent the night sleeping outside her cell.

Eragon looked down, frustrated.

"Perhaps one of the other children has heard something from their parents." Kiri offered. She did not want to be the one to tell him that his sister was going to be put on trial in a few days and that she would undoubtedly be found guilty and executed.

Eragon glanced up at her and nodded. "Thank you Sublieutenant," he smiled, seeing her rank pins on the collar of her tunic. Maybe one of them would know where Tilly was.

He walked around Kiri and headed off to look for the other children.

Kiri's heart went out to the boy. Children did not realize how dangerous a world was, that was why they were children. Eragon, she thought sadly, would soon find out. She vowed to herself then that although she might not be able to keep him from finding out his foster sister's undoubted fate, she would protect him.

* * *

><p><strong>More OC's, i warned you i like my OC's. Instead of just making it Thor and Loki i like having background, constructing the world they live in. Unless i'm talking about humans, any ages i give, like Eragon being nine, are proportional to human years, Eragon's several centuries old.<strong>

**As you can tell there is some tension growing between traditionalists like Kiri and radicals like Rane. You'll learn more about the one called Daris later on, believe me, he's no minor character. **

**Alfheim is a very alien realm to us humans. Which do you like better, Rane or Kiri and isn't Eragon cute?**


	6. 5 Micha

**Chapter 5: Where To?**

Her arms were cramping. So was her legs and neck and back and most of her body. It was making it hard to sleep. Tilaria was trapped in that sitting position next to the wall, not even able to stand. Her body was starting to feel the effects.

She had also received neither food nor drink. Tilaria was certain that she had kept track of the time right. Almost two days had passed since Daris's visit. She hoped he would come back. Hel, she even hoped that this trial Hallien had planned would just hurry up and happen, at least then she would be able to walk.

Her stomach growled, unhappy at being so empty. Tilaria shushed it but knew it would do little good. Elves, like Æsir, could last weeks without food before suffering any side effects and elves could go even longer. That didn't mean her body liked it.

The longest she had gone like this was eight days. Of course, on the eighth day she had woken up with Eragon curled up on the stone steps outside the energy barrier and Hallien had to let her out after that. He and the other elves were forever trying to separate them but Eragon was even more stubborn then she was and _that_ was saying something.

Tilaria knew that despite Eragon's smile and aura of 'I'm just an innocent child,' he was quite adept at being sneaky. He would have known that Arlen had returned those two days ago and would be looking for her. She hoped that Eragon wouldn't get in too much trouble trying to find her.

She stretched her legs, trying to get the blood flowing with little success. Not even enemy assassins were handcuffed to the wall like this.

One thing about being stuck in a cell for two days, you had to entertain yourself. The only way to do that was to think. She did not regret killing Arlen. Despite being a night hair he had treated her worse than any of the others _and_ he had been trying to kill Thor and Loki.

She used her little silver pick and tried again to get it to catch on the locking mechanism. It seemed, however, that Daris knew what he was talking about, she couldn't get it to open. She was fairly certain she had set a record for getting out of the old model of restrainer cuffs in 5.2 seconds.

More footsteps could be heard down the hall and Tilaria curled her right hand around the lock pick, letting her body lay against the wall as if she were asleep. It was just the Guard on patrol, he would walk by and then she could continue trying to get out of these thrice blasted cuffs.

Something was wrong. The footsteps were perfectly in time with each other but Tilaria could still detect minute differences in the marching. There were two – no, three elves walking down the hallway. She couldn't resist dropping the sleeping act to watch them walk by her cell. Two of the Guard were carrying a struggling black haired boy between them. He had been injured if the blood running down his temples were any indication. Tilaria stared at the fallen blood, debating if she should use it, but decided not to. She would have to wait until they brought her above ground before she escaped.

There was a hum of a cell wall materializing to her right and she could guess they had just thrown the boy in there. Two of the Guard then walked back the way they came leaving the third to continue his rounds. A night haired elf. She couldn't pretend to be surprised. Children with one black haired parent and one blonde parent were always black haired.

There was a zap noise to her right and a shout. The boy had just touched the cell's forceshield. Tilaria shook her head. She was a veteran to these cells and had spent more time in here than most criminals. "That really is not a good idea."

"Says who?" The boy called back.

"Someone who has been down here more than once." Tilaria replied, taking care not to say her name.

There was another zap from the energy barrier and Tilaria sighed. "Warned you."

The boy backed away from the energy barrier with a scowl and sat down. "Name's Micha. You?" He called out, sitting with his back to her cell. He had caught a glimpse of the cute little blonde thing handcuffed to the wall. "They usually only lock us night hairs down here."

"Be glad you can walk around the cell at least." Tilaria laughed softly. Definitely a night hair, only black haired elves used conjunctions. "Why are you here? Did you steal some poor nobles' scraps?"

Micha smiled softly despite himself. "Nah, I dared to meet the eyes of Milady Galia."

Tilaria winced. Hallien had three council members, Arlen, Daris, and Galia. Daris and Galia were polar opposites when it came to many things but one thing that was sure was that you did not want to earn Galia's ire. Especially if you were just a night haired elf, no one ever defended night hairs. "Did she order the Guards to strike you down?"

"More or less. Those blondes forget, we night hairs know how to fight an we don't care if its proper or it ain't. Ya should see the Guards."

Tilaria winced at the grammar. Noble children and even common elves were raised to speak properly but she didn't say anything, least her distraction fall quiet.

"You never told me who you 'ere." Micha pressed, his curiosity intensifying. The girl used contractions but he was sure that her accent was from a palace raised noble. If that was so, why was she handcuffed to the wall?

"Long story." Tialria sighed, opening her palm to see the lock pick sparkle.

"I ain't goin' nowhere." Micha pushed, looking at his cuffs.

Tilaria shook her head but was about to say something when she heard footsteps.

"Well?" Micha was stubborn, Tilaria would give him that. She shushed him, quickly curling her hand around the pick again. There wasn't enough time to slip it back into her vanguard.

Micha was about to think up a snappy response when he heard the footsteps. I'll give the gal one thing, he thought, she's got some good ears.

Three guards walked into sight. This time they stopped in front of Tilaria's cell. One tapped on the control panel and the energy field dissipated. Another walked inside to retrieve her.

He is going to have to un-handcuff me. Tilaria thought readying herself for a strike.

The Guard placed his hands on the cuffs and pulled them right through the bar in the wall. Tilaria let herself relax in frustration. Sometimes she really hated magic.

The Guard said nothing, only stepped back out of the cell, blade drawn. The message was clear enough.

Micha stood, getting as close to the energy field as he dared to see what was happening.

Tilaria found her feet, trying to contain her frustration. Her legs gave at the first step, surprised that they had to do something. She muttered under her breath and forced herself up again. She would just walk the cramps out. Being able to walk would come in handy in an escape attempt.

She met Micha's eyes before the Guards started escorting her up the hallway. Micha had a distinct feeling that the Guards were going to be in trouble.

Hallien had never been able to keep her in a cell before, not for too long, Tilaria reasoned. She just needed to get away one more time.

* * *

><p><strong>Two for two! I hope i haven't been making a fool of myself with my stories... He he, this is more fun then i thought. <strong>

**No one's left me any reviews, can you guys help me out? **


	7. 6 Trial

**Chapter 6: Trial**

Hallien's trial was a mockery. Both Tilaria and Hallien knew of the outcome. Galia curled her lip slightly. This was a waste of time and a trial was something that the half-breed did not deserve. They should just kill it now.

Hallien was not here yet, but Galia and Daris sat just below his seat. Arlen's empty chair was between them. Galia could not understand why Hallien had picked one of those barbaric night hairs to be on his council, let alone his second in command. Imagine what would happen if Arlen had actually had to take command. A night hair in charge of Alfheim, now that was a joke.

It was no secret that Daris liked the half-breed about to be escorted in. It was also no secret that Galia was all for cleansing the population of dissident genes, purifying the gene pool by removing the contaminates – the black haired elves. It would only kill a few thousand and Alfheim would be better for it but no, she had not stood a chance with Arlen on the Council. Now that he was dead she might stand a chance, _if_ she could get one of her allies to take Arlen's place.

Hallien silently sat in his seat. Galia and Daris were too busy trying to glare each other to death to notice his arrival. He severely wished Arlen was here. When it came to this case especially, those two were polar opposites. "Bring her in." Hallien ordered, his circlet feeling heavy on his brow.

Galia had just revised her plan to cleanse the gene pool of sympathizers like Daris as well but Hallien's order drew her from her musing. Both she and Daris straightened.

After a moment the door opened without the aid of an elfin hand. Three Immortal Guard walked in, one in front, two behind the prisoner. Tilaria looked like a child. Her young age was exemplified by her lack of weapons and anything else she could do was hampered by the upgraded restrainer cuffs on her wrists. Surely, Galia thought, without magic or blades and with her hands bound in front of her there was nothing she could do.

Despite knowing that she was charged of murder and she would be found guilty she walked with her head held high and her shoulders straight. Her step was light and sure and she excluded an aura of calm and confidence.

"Tilaria," another elf on the ground began. "You are charged with the murder of Councilor Arlen Vanderson and-"

Tilaria took a breath and whistled. It was a very loud and shrill whistle that made the collective elves jump and left their ears ringing. Elves had very sensitive hearing. Daris actually showed a sign of discomfort by rubbing his ears and muttering an ow.

"A little Æsir trick," Tilaria explained with a smile. "It's called whistling."

Hallien frowned. She was _far_ too cocky for his liking.

Tilaria took a mental breath. She had one chance to do this. This should please Daris at least. She smiled but she was baring her fangs more than anything. "So…" she started. "How about we skip this?" She waved her cuffed hands at the gathered elves.

Hallien tilted his head to one side but did not interrupt. He was curious.

Tilaria took her approval. "I am charged with murder and knowing you also conspiracy and treachery." She ticked off the points on her left fingers, her right hand at an odd angle. "And I am going to assume that Alyndra knows her job and has already figured out exactly how I killed your precious Arlen." Her voice is harsher then she means it to be but she can feel the rush of magic coloring her vision and clouding her mind with its iron tang.

A drop of blood fell from her hand to splatter on the white tile floor. Hallien saw the splash of dark on the tile and more drops fall. He slowly raised his eyes to Tilaria's smile, fear snaking into his chest. No, no she could not possibly, not here!

"I killed Arlen with blood magic. Like this."

The Guards turned towards her at her words and Hallien saw her open her right hand. Her little silver lock pick that she had cut her hand with pinged to the ground, sounding like crystal. It was covered in blood, just like her palm.

Daris smiled. Yes. I knew she would turn to blood magic.

One Guard tried to grab her restrainer cuffs but Tilaria was too fast. Drawing on the power of blood magic, feeling the overwhelming rush that came from the use of it, Tilaria let herself get swept away in the power and her moral inhibitions slip away. You could not have morals when using blood magic. She placed her hand on his chest, and in an instant, red glowed around it and he was flung back like a rag doll by a concussive blood hex. Tilaria can hear his bones breaking, can hear his choked gasp as he tries to breathe but failed and died. It was a rush.

One of the elves screamed, Galia realized, then realized she had been the one to scream. Tilaria had killed an elf just like that and she was not done yet.

The second Guard swung his blade, but Tilaria caught it on the impervious metal of her restrainer cuffs, feeling the swords enchantments slice through the hexes on the cuffs designed to suppress her magic. He took another swing but Tilaria caught the edge of the blade on the back of a hand. Smiling, she jumped slightly into the air and brought a foot down on the blade, snapping it. She was so much stronger now. Another concussive hex sent him sliding off his feet.

Too much, too much, too much! Galia's mind shouted at itself. She stood and fled, the rest of the gathered elves take their cue from her, choking on the bitter iron taste of blood magic. All but Hallien and Daris but they couldn't move. The pure power of blood magic weighted down their limbs and made their magic sluggish, effectively paralyzing them.

Tilaria ducked a swing from the third and placed a bloody hand on his chest. She bared her fangs in triumph and curled her bloody fingers closer to her palm as she hopped back, almost waving something to come, come. The last Guard was lifted into the air. Tilaria gazed at him, tilting her head to one side almost curiously. Then she tightened her hand and made a sharp, jerking move toward her chest.

Hallien ducked his head at the Guards scream and at the most terrible chocked noise. Swirls of blood poured from his skin, eyes, nose, ears, and mouth as his life slipped away. The blood tore through his body, curling around Tilaria. Once the last bits of blood were drained Tilaria relaxed her hand and the elves body fell to the ground. The blood now swirled protectively around her.

Tilaria slowly looked up at the remaining Guard. Her pink eyes were red-black, the unnatural color spilling past the rim of her iris and the black of the pupil. To his credit, the Guardsman stood his ground, even with his broken sword trembling slightly. He was terrified.

Hallien tried desperately to move but the magic was too strong. She had to be an arch blood mage at least. He looked at Daris, but he was just standing there, either frozen as he was or in shock.

The doors slammed open, revealing more Immortal Guard. Hallien wanted to shout at them no, stay back! The more elves there were them more blood Tilaria could draw off of. The girl tilted her head to one side, looking more animal then human, still handcuffed. This was bad, Hallien thought, trying to move his hand from the table to his side. Suns, this spell was worse than the effects of a mindflare. But if he could get to his phaser…

The Guard shouted no idiotic war cries as Æsir often did but simply ran forward. Tilaria raised her hand, her golden hair half-hiding her face. She looked no more like a creature then now. A ripple of blood responded and raced out like a shockwave. When it hit the first few Guards, the Guards were lifted into the air, shrieking. Their flesh was torn form their bodies, dissolving into a combination of energy and blood and all that clattered to the ground was armor, clothes, and bones.

The Guards behind them skidded to a stop, staring. A visual nexus of energy had surrounded the girl, and the Guards stopped outside the killing line. Lieutenant Rane was one of the Guards left staring at the Halfling, trying not to cough up his lunch from the smell of eviscerated flesh. He threw his sword but when it hit the nexus, it shattered, sending bits of metal flying back to the Guards, forcing them further back to avoid the shrapnel.

The nexus around her wavered, her power was fading. That was the problem of blood; you needed a steady supply of energy. She held out her hand, making the Guards skitter back. Red light glowed around her palm and a shockwave was sent out that sent the Guards flying out of the room.

She gave that smile again, the one that sent a shiver of fear down any who saw it. Tilaria raised her hands into the air and much of the blood, Hallien saw, leapt to the restrainer cuffs on her wrist. They wavered around the hands and dove into a crack that had been made by the sword strike. The air visibly cleared.

Cracks started to form and he could hear a clicking sound. Then the cuffs exploded, sending bits of metal everywhere. Tilaria lowered her freed hands with a smile. She had overloaded her cuffs in the most extreme degree, Daris noted with a smile. Not too shabby of a technique. He felt the power disrupt the paralysis hex that he had subtly woven around Hallien.

Hallien jumped on the chance and managed to draw his phaser, changing the setting as he raised the barrel of it. It was not set on stun now. He took aim, finger finding the trigger. Daris saw the movement. The blood had faded, Hallien had a clear shot.

"Die." Hallien hissed, pulling the trigger.

The bolt of superheated plasma that should have struck her went wide as Daris grabbed Hallien's arm, one hand above, one hand below, and applied pressure. Hallien hissed as he felt the bone snap, he punched Daris's windpipe, leaving him wheezing.

The phaser snapped up to his unbroken hand and Hallien raised it, whipping back around to take another shot. He was left staring.

Tilaria was gone.


	8. 7 Growing Storm

**Chapter 7: Growing Storm**

It had taken Eragon forever to find Livia, a girl his own age, and she had told him about what was going on. He did not know if Hallien would sentence his sister or not but he knew that she would not stay in his custody for long. Now, the Prince stood on his balcony, smiling at the alarm. That was Tilly.

Father should have known better than to try and cage her, Tilaria _always_ got out in the end. They had needed to upgrade the cells three times so far. He hoped none of the Guard had tried to stop her, she had broken two ribs of one Guard who had done that.

He was not scared of Tilaria. She was his sister. Even if she was technically adopted, she could not be blamed that she was half Æsir. Tilly had taken care of him, raised him like how his mother would have if she had not died.

Eragon straightened when he felt the snap of his senseline, warning him that someone had just teleported into his room. He smiled when he sensed it was her though he did not understand why he could taste blood in the air. He stepped back into the room, the balcony doors closing and curtains drawing themselves shut on his quiet command. Without the sunlight, the crystal plants on the ceiling illuminated his room.

Tilaria was standing just inside the locked doorway.

"Sister," Eragon chirped, quickly covering the distance between himself and his foster sibling, smiling.

Tilaria smiled back softly, raising a hand to ruffle his long blonde-white hair. Eragon was younger than her, still in class lessons, and was not yet tall enough to come close to her shoulder.

Eragon glanced at her and whispered his question, "How long will you be gone?" He looked up at her with his big blue garnet colored eyes.

Tilaria sighed and held out her right hand, still bloody.

Eragon took it instantly and wove a healing spell that she had taught him. The blood faded and her palm was left free of scratches but Eragon did not let go. Tilaria's hands were soft and warm, just like he remembered him mothers being. He wished he could remember more about Anastasia.

Tilaria closed her fingers over his hand. "Eragon, promise me something."

"Anything Tilly."

Tilaria looked down at him and Eragon realized that even though her bangs were hiding her eyes he could sense that something was wrong with their color. "Promise me you'll stick to the normal magic. Don't ever touch Arcane."

Confusion flittered across Eragon's eyes. Arcane? He had seen Tilaria reading a Grimorie written in blood before, had seen a few runes on the pages but Tilaria had never let him really look at it. He knew he would only need to flip through it once to memorize it. Maybe that was why she kept it out of his reach.

"Promise me." Tilaria repeated, her voice a bit harsher. She tightened her grip on his hand.

"I promise," Eragon relented. Drat.

Tilaria let his hand go. "You are my light Eragon. My consciousness." She delicately brushed one of his bangs behind his pointed ears.

Eragon still did not understand.

"If Hallien catches me he will kill me." She whispered.

Eragon's head jerked up. "No! I will not let Father hurt you." He stepped forward and grabbed her around the waist, hugging her. No one hurts his Tilly.

"Eragon…" Tilaria sighed and stroked his hair gently. She stepped back and detangled Eragon from her. "Trust Daris." She ordered, shoving her emotions to the back of her mind for the time being. "Don't tell Hallien but Daris has and is helping me."

Eragon nodded sulkily, he could tell that she had just done as all elves were raised to be able to do – lock away their distracting emotions at a moment's notice and switch to strategy by more logical means. She was going to leave again. He did not want Tilaria in danger or running around Alfheim. He wanted her here, with him. That was unlikely with Hallien's dislike of her. Why could not father learn to cooperate with his foster daughter?

Tilaria took another step back and teleported.

Eragon coughed, tasting blood in her magic. Dark magic… He really hoped Tilly could control it.

* * *

><p>"If you had just done as I suggested and locked her in her room then none of this would have happened!" Daris waved his hands around the bodies in the courtroom.<p>

Hallien glared at him. "Finished?" His asked with a faint hiss to his voice.

Daris bared his teeth but nodded.

"You are lucky I am not pressing charges on you, Daris. I had her dead to rights, she would be if you had not _broken my arm_!" Hallien near shouted the last three words but swallowed, regaining control of his emotions.

Daris did not flinch, and the two stared at each other.

Alyndra ignored them both, checking one of the bodies. This body, the one that Tilaria had slammed against the wall with that hex and broken all the bones, looked like a body. It was the only one that did so. There were also five skeletons with armor and the last body… Alyndra did not wish to look at it.

Rane stood against the wall, one of the Immortal Guard on duty. He remembered seeing Tilaria dissolve the flesh off the bones of his fellow Guards. The sixth had been reduced to a pile of eviscerated flesh in Tilaria's quest to get every drop of his blood. The flesh that was left was white as snow – or so he assumed, Rane had never seen snow – and every blood vessel had been burst and the blood dragged forcefully torn through his skin. He hesitated for a moment, then decided that it would not harm Alyndra's analysis and walked forward, unclicking the clasp of his cloak.

Hallien and Daris's arguing made a background of white noise as he approached the body. It looked far more like a pile of raw meat with a skeleton partially sticking out of it. Rane flicked the dark green cloak off his shoulders and carefully set it over the body, a small mercy, trying not to gag on the smell. He realized how quiet it had gotten.

Hallien and Daris had stopped speaking and were both looking at him, so was Alyndra.

"If it will not interfere with your analysis, Milady Alyndra." A little late to be asking permission Rane scolded himself.

Alyndra shook her head no.

"It is not her fault," Daris muttered, breaking the silence.

Rane narrowed his eyes at the councilor. How can he be defending that half breed, no, that monster?

"She did this." Hallien's voice was harsh, his right arm cradled against his side. "She did not have to do all of this to escape. She did this because not one of us had the power to stop her, she was in control, and she liked it. That is how it feels to be on a high from blood magic. I know."

Daris hesitated and lowered his eyes.

"Guards." Hallien ordered.

Rane stepped forward, anticipating Hallien's command.

"Escort this… elf to the dungeons." Hallien glared at Daris, thinking of all the words he could have used to describe him in place of elf.

No! Daris thought, I must be free for this to work. He thought quickly as Rane and another elf stepped forward.

"You will not find her without my aid." Daris called out as he was forced to start walking.

"Hold," Hallien ordered. The Guards held.

The great King of Alfheim walked to face Daris. "Where did she learn it?"

"Learn what? This?" Daris gawked. "I cannot say."

Hallien knew plenty about blood magic. He knew that in order to kill Arlen she would need to be an adept at least. It was doubtful that she could have learned how to during her stay on Asgard, but in order for her to have learned how to do all of this, she would need to have used blood for a long time. Tilaria would have had to learn it here, from an elf.

Hallien waved his hand and the Guards on either side Daris stepped back. "You taught her how to fight. I said that halfbreed was not to learn how to fight yet you showed her how to work a blade. If you had not Arlen would still be alive."

"Yes," Daris agreed, losing his temper. "And Asgard would likely be short two Princes. Tilaria does seem to have a habit for ruining your plots for realm-wide domination."

There was no warning, but suddenly Daris and Hallien had their blades locked, Daris's longer saber giving him leverage. The Guards stepped forward drawing their blades, but at a hiss from Hallien decided to keep their distance. Alyndra looked up then shook her head and looked back down at her evaluation. Boys would be boys and she doubted either would stop until they vented a bit.

Daris's twilight blue eyes were starting to give way to green. Hallien did not like the conclusion he was drawing so he decided to test it and applied more pressure on his dagger. Daris raised a second hand, pricking it on his blade as he placed it on top of the other, applying counter pressure. Hallien swore silently, there was blood on the blade now.

"You still will not allow my request? The only way to counter Arcane is with more Arcane and she knows it. We are vulnerable." Daris asked.

Hallien glared at him, and then suddenly backed away, breaking the contact between their blades. Daris was off balance enough that he almost fell forward before catching himself and straightening, blade lowered to point to the ground.

"Yes," The king answered without the slightest hesitation. He set his hand on his phaser by his side, debating, it _was_ still set on kill…

Daris tapped his saber against his leg and then sheathed it, trying to mask his frustration. Hallien really is a fool… "It has merit."

"Oh yes indeed," Hallien muttered but his tone was sarcastic.

"Svarta is dead, Asgard does not patrol it – no one does!" Daris exclaimed, trying to get Hallien to understand.

"Yes, it is dead and I will not risk Alfheim sharing its fate by taking their power." Hallien snapped back.

"What about your phaser?" Daris taunted. "It is a remodeled version of the Dark Elves own."

Hallien drew his phaser but let it lay in his hand. He stared down at it, speaking so quietly everyone had to strain to hear. "It is one phaser. I will not have any elf driven insane by learning Kaldorei magic. It would make dethroning Asgard easier but it is not worth the harm it would cause my elves. That is final." His voice at the end was hissed.

Anyone else would have shut up there and let the subject rest, tried again later when Hallien had control of his temper. But not Daris. "You are above using Kaldorei technology and magic but not above murdering a girl?"

Everyone held their breath. "Murder?" Hallien asked, voice soft, low and dangerous. Daris realized too late that he had pushed Hallien too far. "Murder! You want murder look around you! Seven elves are dead by that girl's hand and so is Arlen!" The collective elves inched back at Hallien's shouting and even Daris hesitated.

"Fine." Daris growled, folding his arms.

"She needs to be… what?" Hallien let his voice trail off as he realized what had just happened. Daris gave in?

"I said fine. She is out of control." Daris repeated, savoring Hallien's shock.

Hallien recovered quickly. "You have always treated her as your own. Now you turn on her?" He did not believe a word.

"That was before I saw her do all of this."

Hallien glared. Daris was betraying her far too easily, he was missing something and he did not like it.

"We both thought we could control her." Daris continued, subtly weaving a persuasion charm in with his words. "You thought you could raise her, I thought I could train her. We have both failed and now she is running loose on Alfheim."

He made sense, Hallien thought.

"I meant what I said." Daris dared enhance the charm so it was affecting more than Hallien, making it stronger. "You will not find the halfbreed without me."

"But to do that," Hallien ventured a guess. "You would need to use Dark Magic."

"Yes."

"Then no."

Daris scowled, Hallien's old fear of Arcane was stronger than his charm. "Why not?"

Hallien gazed at Daris his emotions suddenly under perfect control. "Because the price is too high. I know what it does, better than most." Hallien's wrists started burning. "The Dark Elves had a saying about their magic. They said their Dark Magic 'brought them to the highest pinnacles of power and to the darkest depths of madness.' I will not do that to my elves. We will find another way."

"There is no other way," Daris insisted, trying to sway Hallien under his persuasion again.

"We will find one." Hallien snapped, not aware that Daris had just charmed him. "No Arcane, that is a direct order. If the cost of not doing it is that Tilaria runs free then she will run free."

Rane masked his surprise well. Hallien was willing to let that monster run free?

Daris simmered as Hallien walked away. Drat it all, he almost had him! Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rane frown. Maybe, Daris hummed, I can still salvage something from this after all. Some whispers could cut deeper than any blade and Daris had long been manipulating the elves. Time to take it to the next step.

* * *

><p><strong>The winter break has my schedule out of sync, sorry. <strong>

**Am i going to far off course with my stories from the Marvel timeline? Or am i focusing on Tilaria too much? Sorry if i am, i like my OC. The events that happen on Alfheim here end up seriously affecting the Realms, Tilaria, and so the princes. **

**I might start posting stuff from before the Princes, Pre-Tilaria or after the Avengers.**

**The more i write the more i type but i don't write much outside of school ironically.**

**Please respond!**


	9. 8 A Few Whispers

**Chapter 8: A Few Whispers**

Rane stalked to his barrack. His shift was over. It makes no sense, he spat at himself. He could understand Hallien's unease at using Arcane magic, anyone who knew of his past could, but to be so stubborn as to let Tilaria run free… But as Kiri would say, a Guard's place is not to question orders, it is to follow them.

There had to be _something_ he could do to bring that murderer down.

"Lieutenant," a voice called behind him.

Hearing his rank spoken snapped him back to his old instinct of following orders. Rane turned on his heel, saluting across his chest, with a closed fist over his heart, the Light Elf salute. "Sir," Rane replied curtly, wishing he had not been stopped.

Daris has his hands behind his back. "May I have a word Lieutenant?"

Rane wanted to say no but had no excuse on hand. "What is it you wish to speak to me of Councilor?"

Daris smiled. "I get the feeling you do not like me."

"If I may speak freely…" Rane asked.

Daris nodded permission.

"You allowed Tilaria to escape and then attempted to turn the situation around to try and further your own plan concerning Svarta."

Daris winced internally. Well he _had_ given Rane permission. "I raised her, after a fashion, and was loath to see Hallien kill her so quickly. The shock of the situation had not sunk in. It has now."

"Which is why you agreed to help the King." Rane finished.

"Yes." Daris nodded, subtly touching Rane's mind to find out exactly what to say. When he had the wording right, only a second later, he wove his charm in with his words. "I do understand why Hallien does not wish to use Arcane magic but there is nothing stopping other elves from using it. And their ships take no magic at all to fly –there will be at least one of the crashed fleet on Svarta's surface that _is_ flyable. He is being far too stubborn on this matter, and is willing to let a murderer run free to keep his hands clean."

Those are my thoughts exactly, Rane realized. He was glad someone had some sense left.

"Perhaps the King is in the wrong on this entire Svarta matter, especially if it could be used to stop Tilaria from killing any more. Some of those killed were part of your squadron were they not?" Daris could tell his charm was working.

"All of them, sir." Rane barely whispered. "But the king does as the king wishes."

Daris shook his head. "The king should do what is best for his people, not what he is wants. Imagine the power our people could have if we used just a fraction of the items left on Svarta. The Dark Elves had one of the most dangerous armies in the Realms. Tilaria would not stand a chance. Neither would any other race. We would be unstoppable."

"Hallien banned savaging Svarta to protect us, so we do not end up like the Dark Elves." Rane argued, but it was a halfhearted argument, one that he had never believed himself.

"A foolish decision. We are Light Elves, the best of the nine races. The Dark Elves were barbarians who relished hunting and sharpening their blades – you would think them a sister race to the _Æsir_ from the way they acted. They could not control the power but if anyone can, we can." Daris pushed, strengthening his persuasion charm.

"King Hallien does not believe we can." Rane muttered, his anger successfully turned away from Daris to Hallien.

"Perhaps we need a new king." Daris dared offer, confident in Rane's answer.

Daris's persuasion charm faded but it made no matter. Rane glanced up at him for a long moment and then gave the faintest of nods in agreement.

Daris smiled. He knew Tilaria would escape the trial using blood magic he had forced her to learn or risk losing his 'affection.' In the process, she had killed many, just as he knew she would. Now, it was easy to turn the elves against her and give himself the leverage he needed to set his sights on Hallien's crown. He had needed Tilaria to kill, now, he just needed her dead.

* * *

><p>Half of the Silver Arrow squad was busy sparing with each other, using daggers and staffs. They carried no saber or shield and so did not train with any. Their only armor was leather. Some were working with hand to hand and others hand to blade. Of course, all this training was secondary. Silver Arrows were archers first, the best of the best with their bows.<p>

Unlike their kin in the Immortal Guard, this smaller group of the Eladrin's militia was long range. Without the heavy armor of the Guard, the Arrows were able to utilize speed, agility, and flexibility in battle. For them, flips, handsprings, and somersaults were just part of the fighting style to a far greater extent then the rest of the elves.

They were no acting troupe, no; they still proportionally had the most kills to their numbers. The Immortal Guard was meant to counter the Æsir's Star Guard but the Arrows had no counter, no equal anywhere in the Realms. The Dark Elves had been the deadliest warriors but with the race extinct, the Arrows took their place at the top.

Many hated the fact that the Guard had taken the banner and become the core army of the Light Elves. They didn't mind that the Guard took over patrols in the dungeon or peacekeepers; those were boring jobs, not meant for warriors. Due to the lack of a real war, that was all the Guard did. Very few bothered to train outside of their basic regiment and that regiment had suffered as well.

The Arrows training was as strict as it had been before the Dark Elves destruction at the Convergence four thousand years ago. They were like the marines or SEAL's of earth, the best of the best. Yet their old glory was gone and their numbers had suffered.

They slowed their techniques as they finished. There were murmurs around of small compliments, critiques, and more innocent talk of families and simple events. It was lunch time. Relaxing, they went over and collected their food. Unlike the Guard, which ended up split into dozens of different camps, this one training ground held the entire, small, force of Silver Arrows. The closeness meant that the Arrows had to learn to get along and they had.

Another key difference was that the Arrows welcomed female as well as male into their ranks with no biases. There were only a few females in the Guard, a habit they had picked up from the Æsir and another sign of their general idiocy. Needless to say, the two factions did not get along and had contact with each other and contact was kept to as little as possible.

Two flags flapped in the courtyard. The top one, the larger one, was the Light Elf flag. On a field of bright green was a giant gold sun. The arms that extended from the sun touched the edge of the flag on all four sides. Inside the sun, its tips touching the sun's rim was a sky blue Triquetra, a three pointed knot.

The bottom flag was smaller with five silver arrows, fanned, on storm gray. Half encircled by the fletching's was a silver star. The star was rarely included on anything other than flags. They wore those five arrows with pride. It was the Symbol of the Silver Arrows.

Their lack of contact with the Immortal Guard meant that they did not hear Daris's whispers of treason. So their loyalty to the Crown remained untouched.

* * *

><p><strong>Don't worry, i promise i'm not going crazy off kilter with the Silver Arrows. I just have a habit of making OC's and the rest of the realm be major as well, not just Asgard and such. I'll be having all nine realms in my stories.<strong>


	10. 9 Coup

**Chapter 9: Coup**

Many things could be said about Alfheim. One undeniable thing was that it was full of life.

The trees were giant, too large for her to attempt to wrap her arms around them, so tall were they that you risked getting a kink in your neck from looking up at them. The berry bushes were taller than most elves and some were so layered with fruit that you could not see the bush. The chirps of birds and rustle of smaller creatures was constant, a background of edible soothing white noise.

Tilaria nibbled on some rabbit from yesterday. It had been three days. Three long days since she had escaped from her trial and started hiding in the forest. She had to stay away from the capital but at least she would not starve. She had killed seven elves a few days ago, most for no good reason and it still did not bother her, killing a few rabbits would not make her stomach flip. Plus they tasted good, especially when she had layered the meat with the thyme and rosemary she had found growing wild.

Tilaria whished that killing so many did bother her, it should, but blood mages had very few moral inhibitions. She plucked a blackberry from a bush taller than her with thorns as long as her finger and crunched into it. She knew one thing for sure. She could not stay here, wandering around the forest. Eventually she would be found and killed.

So, what to do now? Where to go now might be a better question.

Plucking a few more blackberries off the bush Tilaria waved her hand to clean the leaves off a fallen log for her to sit on. As she did, she saw red on the ground. Curious, she knelt down.

There was a strawberry plant there, the berries looked just ripe enough to eat. Loki would love them, Tilaria knew how much Asgard's younger prince like strawberries. What about Asgard?

Tilaria debated with the thought. Loki would not mind and neither would his cute brother Thor. What about Odin?

Maybe before her killing all those elves in her escape but she doubted he would let her stay on Asgard now. She had killed eight elves. That was a very serious charge and she had no defense. Odin would be obligated to hand her back to Hallien if the elf insisted, and Odin would, or risk straining relations even more.

She sighed and stood up. Whether she liked it or now, she was on her own.

One of her sense-lines snapped. Tilaria tensed and threw her mental shields up an instant before she felt a mind touch her own. The person sulked outside the shields.

Tilaria hesitated. She knew that mind. No two minds had the same mindprint and no other mage could mimic another's mindprint so it was one of the surest ways to confirm someone's cracked her shields long enough to ask _*Daris?*_

_*Yes my dear?*_ Daris responded._ *Are you all right? Where are you?*_

_*I'm fine*_ Tilaria assured him feeling warmth in her chest that at least someone on Alfheim cared about her._ *I'm in the forest*_

_*Good. I want you to come back to the city – to Anar's Ruins*_

_*Anar's…*_ Tilaria frowned, letting her telepathic link with Daris fade for a moment. _*Why there?*_

_*Because no one else will be there*_ Daris sounded vaguely annoyed.

He hates it when I questioned him, Tilaria knew. But that vague annoyance was the only emotion. In a telepathic link she should be able to pick up a lot more emotions unless… but why would Daris cloak his emotions? Her ears twitched, something was wrong here but she could not quite figure out what.

_*Tilaria*_ Daris pressed, concern in his mind voice.

Her eyes flittered down to the strawberries. She wanted to go to Asgard but could not run the risk of Odin handing her back to Hallien. Daris would never betray her.

_*The sun is almost set*_ Tilaria shooed away her hesitation. _*I cannot make it tonight; tomorrow night, moonhigh. I will be there)_

Moonhigh was midnight. _*Good, go to the southwest courtyard*_ Daris broke the mind speak.

Tilaria ignored her instincts and signed her death.

* * *

><p>Two Immortal Guard stood between Daris and the door to Hallien's office. One of them, named Tarron, glared at him as about half of Alfheim did. He wanted to make Daris one head shorter with his sword. There would be no swaying him to turn against his king.<p>

The other Guard, Rane, was still missing his cloak. His gaze was like the other half of the elves, wary, unsure if Daris was right, but willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Rane had done well. He had long been swaying elves to his banner and Tilaria's actions made events move even faster. Oh, if only Hallien knew that he didn't have more than a handful of Immortal Guard. The rest are following my orders, Daris thought smugly.

After a moment more of the stare off, Hallien's doors opened without the need for an elfin hand. The Guards let him in. Rane and Tarron glared at each other. No one knew quite how extensive this treason was, no one would, not until Daris made his move, and he needed Tilaria and the entire Royal Family in the same place at the same time.

"Daris," Hallien's voice was curt.

"My king," Daris half-bowed. This is going to be one of the last time I call you that. "The Halfbreed will come to Anar's Ruins at tomorrow's moon high, near the southwest courtyard."

Hallien did not look up from his desk, for once a mess of papers. "You plan this trap so easy. One might think you knew beforehand she would escape." Hallien did not trust Daris, had never liked him. That was why he had picked Daris for his council. Daris, he knew, would point out Hallien's errors unwaveringly. Hallien did not want a council that would agree with every decision he made, especially if he might be making the wrong one.

"She is intuitive. You have had to upgrade the cell's three times and the restrainer cuffs five. I did not consider her escape outside the realm of probable. The _way_ that she escaped was illogical." Daris replied, keeping his voice level. Hallien might not be quite so dense after all but he stands no chance against _me_.

"Very well, I will gather some Guard." Hallien relented. No matter what he felt, Tilaria's apprehension was the primary concern.

"No!" Daris replied sharply. Too sharply he saw from Hallien's reaction. "We need to bring a minimum contingent. If she sense it is a trap she will bolt, possibly all the way to Asgard. You know how the Æsir are, even with the charges, Odin would still protect her. When I spoke to her telepathically I sensed that very idea. I spoke her down from it once, I do not know if I can talk her from going there a second time."

As willing to argue as ever, Hallien sighed, suspicion growing. "Three Guards."

That suited Daris far better.

"So Daris," Hallien began "do you use blood or Fel magic?"

Daris's eyes got huge as he scrambled for a way to deny Hallien's claim, true as it was. "Sir…"

"Do not bother with excuses. The green in your eyes is from Arcane or did you forget my history? I can tell. Why else would you cut your hand when our blades were locked? There was blood on your blade, blood you could use if needed." Hallien looked up from rifling papers around, seeing Daris still grabbing for a way to deny. "Answer the question." Hallien sharpened his voice. "And how much did you teach Tilaria?"

"I, um, I... oh… blood magic." Daris muttered, looking at his feet, his mind racing. "The girl got a Grimorie of mine, she gave it back but not before she memorized it."

Hallien laid his chin on his hands, staring at him. "I presume you can counter her magic and could have stopped her from slaughtering all those Guards and escaping. Since you are both arcane mages you would have been immune to the paralysis effect that trapped me. So why did you let her escape?"

Daris gulped, swearing to himself fiercely. It seemed he had underestimated Hallien. No matter, he just needed to get Hallien to Anar's Ruins where he could kill him. "I can counter her."

"Why did you let her escape?" Hallien continued.

"I thought she could control it. Some blood mages control magic, other times the magic controls them." Daris eyed Hallien purposely.

Hallien dropped the subject. He did not want his past to come up again. His wrists burned. "Give me your grimoire. I can sense you have it on you." Now that he knew to try and sense it, he found it easily. How long as he had that book on him? I must be getting dense if I did not notice it sooner.

Daris reluctantly drew a small brown book and tossed it onto the desk, frustrated.

"Dismissed," Hallien snapped, not bothering to look at the book. He could smell the blood on it.

Daris turned on his heel.

"Daris," Hallien called after him.

Daris turned slowly, dread growing.

"I will not forget your lies. Assist in killing my 'daughter' and I may be lax with you." Hallien's emotionless silver like eyes booked no room for argument.

Daris was cornered.

* * *

><p>The golden orb hovered above Eragon's head, providing him with all the light he needed. He was lying on his stomach in his bed, nose buried in a Grimorie on a battle spell. A history book was on his night stand – that was what his assignment was – to read chapter three. But the Grimorie was so much more interesting.<p>

Someone knocked on his door. The Prince gaze a start and sat up. "One minute!" He called out. He stowed the Grimorie that he was not supposed to have under his bed and snatched up his history book, opening it to a random page. Then he called "Come in!" Eragon straightened in surprise at the figure that walked inside. "Hello Daris," he greeted respectfully. He understood that Tilaria was not his real sister but Eragon still did not see why everyone despised her so. Daris liked Tilly, so Eragon liked Daris.

"Hello my Prince," he responded, closing the door behind him and locked it.

Eragon looked at him curiously, this felt off. "What is it Daris?" He had a dagger under his pillow, a habit he had picked up from Tilaria.

"I do not want to be interrupted." Daris soothed, weaving his persuasion charm in with his voice. "I have spoken with Tilaria."

Eragon hopped off the bed, leaving the book behind. "Is she okay? Where is she? Is she still on Alfheim? Will father really try an' kill her?"

Daris waved a hand, quieting the stream of question, wincing at the Princes slang in his last question.

Eragon quieted instantly and looked up with big blue eyes.

"She is fine and on Alfheim, she did not disclose her exact location to me."

Eragon nodded.

"She is going to be at Anar's Ruins the night after tonight at moonhigh in the Southwest courtyard." Daris continued. "It was arranged for me to be there and meet her."

"Anar's Ruins?" Eragon frowned. He turned to his bed where his neglected history book lay; open to a picture of what Anar's Ruins looked like before they were ruins.

Anar was a traitor who had tried to crown himself. He had even built his own palace. He might have actually stood a chance until Hallien and some of his friends back when they were children took matters into their own hands. When he and his followers were killed, his palace had been destroyed. Anar's son, Daris, had been spared. The ruins had been left to remind other elves not to try and repeat the same trick.

Daris felt it singularly ironic. The only difference between me and my father is that I will succeed. "Yes," Hebecame serious. "But I believe that Hallien may have caught wind."

"Father?" Eragon remembered his sister's words 'If Hallien catches me, he will kill me.' "She is walking into a trap." Eragon whispered.

"She wanted me to act as a go-between, I do not know Hallien learned of this, but if he finds her…."

"He will not." Eragon spoke suddenly, vindictively.

"Your father expects me to go with him to the ruins to trap her. There is no way for me to warn her to not come."

"I – I have to warn her." Eragon stuttered. Then he frowned. Wait a minute. "Why did she not tell me herself? She can speak to me in my dreams."

Daris hated his luck. Tilaria had never even mentioned she could Dreamspeak. Like father like son, Eragon seemed to be too clever for his own good.

"Tilaria told you to trust me did she not?" Daris crouched down to be at Eragon's eye level, flecks of green glittering as he strengthened his charm.

"Yes," Eragon exhaled. "I will head her off."

"Thank you my Prince," Daris bowed. He really hated that he was going to have to kill Eragon. What use was killing Hallien if Eragon was crowned right after that? No, he had to clear away the entire family to take the crown himself.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh, trouble. Tilaria is trusting the wrong elf and doesn't even know it. Now Daris will have all three of them in the same place so he can kill them. Hallien will fight, don't doubt that, but how much can he do with Blood Magic's paralysis effect. Tilaria won't be paralyzed but should she bother? <strong>


	11. 10 Anar's Ruins

**Chapter 10: Anar's Ruins**

The night the civil war truly started was warm and muggy, the humidity too high to be comfortable. Daris knew that it would be cooler once they passed the threshold of the ruins. If the elves could enchant their entire realm to stay in an eternal summer, they could easily charm their homes to maintain a constant temperature. The charms should still be intact, even with the palace in ruins.

The ruin's shadow was just in sight. In less than an hour they would be there. In two, Alfheim would have a new king.

* * *

><p>Eragon's eyes fluttered open softly. He was lying on his bed, still fully clothed. That made no sense. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the window – which had the curtains drawn. He flicked his hand and nearly bolted out of bed at the sight of the dark orange light of sunset. How did I sleep so long?<p>

"Tilly." His sister was in danger. Eragon quickly started lacing up his boots, he had to get to Anar's Ruins.

As he grabbed his blade he knocked over the jug of spice tea on his nightstand. He bit his lip and fixed it with a wave of his hand. His magic trembled a warning. Pausing he waved a hand over the drink, sensing for toxins. There was nothing deadly but the drink was drugged. "Sleep syrup." He whispered. Someone didn't want him making it to Tilaria. Luckily for him, he had been underdosed and had woken up early.

That made no sense. Daris wanted Eragon there and no one else knew. Well, someone else knew. This game was getting more interesting. Something was very wrong on Alfheim; all the trees told him so. It seemed the trees were right. There was another player. He had to get to the Ruins, he had to warn Tilly before anything else happened.

* * *

><p>The charms kicked in once the group walked past the doorway and the muggy air dried. His father knew how to make a palace, Daris knew. Originally, it had been constructed with ivory stones no thicker than his hand but enchanted to act much thicker.<p>

Unlike the Æsir, who cleared the forest and built that golden heap they called a palace in plain view, elfin cities and even the palace were built into the forest. From above, you could not see a break in the foliage where the capital was.

Daris remembered his father. He, like Hallien, had been a boy when his father had tried to crown himself and make Daris a Prince. Hallien, Arlen, and Myrin – now Commander of the Immortal Guard – were the ones responsible for the palace's destruction and his father's death. A little bit of blood magic, used correctly, was very devastating.

Now there was very little of the second story left, and what was left was still crumbling. Thanks to the boy's blood magic, the very foundation of Alfheim in this spot had been badly shaken. They would have to be careful or this whole palace would be swallowed up.

"I told her southwest. She is likely there by the old armory." Daris spoke.

The same courtyard where your father died, Daris. I know you are playing at something but what? Hallien did not know but waved his hand, signaling the three Guards to spread out and be quiet.

The Guard did so. Two of the Guard were Rane and Kiri and they still glared at each other as they walked apart.

* * *

><p>Eragon raced over the terrain, trusting his instincts and memory to not trip over a root or smack into a tree branch. It was nearly pitch black with dark clouds gathering. That would not have been so odd if the day had not been cloudless.<p>

He panted and looked up, the Ruins had moved from a smudge on the horizon to a looming presence. A few minutes more of stepping downhill, being very careful not to rustle any stones, least his father hear him, and he was there.

The air dried once past the threshold and the going became markedly easier. Eragon froze when he heard a loud bang and the bouncing clatter of something sliding. Taking care to step over the fallen items on the ground he peered around the corner.

Sublieutenant Kiri had just kicked a fallen goblet. Past the Sublieutenant, Eragon could see two more Guards and there was Daris and his father. Eragon's heart sank.

Rane smirked at his former lover, took a step – and walked right into a wall. He stumbled back, barely staying on his feet, dropping his saber.

"Could you two be any noisier?" Hallien asked, a slight growl in his voice.

"It is dark sir," Rane muttered.

Eragon smiled softly, most elves were helpless when the lights went off. Tilly's night sight was almost perfect and she needed less sleep, so she had – at least before Asgard – taken to wandering Alfheim. A few times recently, Eragon had joined her, accounting for his ability to navigate in the dark. Too bad Hallien and this group had not had her training. He hoped that Tilly had heard that and decided to back away.

Tilaria's head did indeed jerk up as she heard the faint sound of a goblet sliding across the floor and a Guard walking into a wall and dropping his blade. Of course she did not actually know what made the sounds but she did know that that was a little noisy for Daris. Biting her lip, she slipped extra throwing shards into her vanguards.

The courtyard was a mess of rubble, scorch marks, bones, and old blood. She stood by some of the blood nervously but did not cross it. There was an odd vibe in the air that made her magic shy away, a human would describe it as haunted. She shook her head and backed up across from what had once been an armory. When she stepped back into the shadows, despite her brightly colored clothes and hair, she almost turned invisible.

* * *

><p>"The courtyard is just ahead." Daris whispered to Hallien. "Wait here."<p>

Hallien did not like being ordered around but decided to play this his way. He held up his hand and the Guards stopped.

No one saw Eragon, little more than a shadow, back away and head to a nearby wall. He used a flicker of magic to get to the top. A touch of the second floor was still here and Eragon perched there, wanting to do something but knowing he had arrived too late. Why had he slept so long?

Daris slowly waked out, amazed at how pitch black it was. An effect of his curse building up its power he supposed.

After a moment, the shadows across the armory moved. "Daris," Tilaria nearly purred. "You came."

"Of course I did my dear, I said I would." Daris noticed her tense stance and palmed throwing shard. She was on edge, could probably feel his curse.

A few steps more and she walked past the first line of blood. Daris held up a hand of warning suddenly and Tilaria froze where she was. One down, Daris hummed, but where was that boy? He could sense the child was near. Oh well, two dead would do for now.

Daris waved Tilaria over and she came instantly, smiling softly as she looked up at him. Ah the girl was just too trusting, lucky for me. He reached up, as if to brush some of her messy bangs out of her eyes but as he touched her temple he snapped a mindflare at her.

This one, done by contact – and to the temple of all places – was exponentially worse than the one she had suffered a few days ago at Hallien's hands. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out immediately. Daris materialized the enhanced restrainer cuffs to his hand and clicked them on Tilaria's wrists in front of her. These he had hexed to prevent her from using her blood magic.

He heard a footfall as Hallien stepped forward, phaser in hand. Just a few more steps and the fool would cross the lines of blood.

* * *

><p>Eragon had hoped very dearly that Daris was going to warn Tilaria away when the two walked forward in the courtyard. He tightened his hand on his dagger, glad that he was up higher, out of everyone's line of sight. Tilly was right, no one ever looked up. And then, the most unexpected thing, a sliver of the moon peered out from behind the thick black clouds, illuminating the courtyard. Lines of silver emerged.<p>

Eragon watched as the lines, blood turned silver under the moonlight, revealed a pattern. He was high enough to see the design. It looked like some sort of pentagram, one he had never seen before.

He tilted his head as he tried to place the odd design. It was a five-point star encircled with two rings. There were runes between the rings and between the arms of the star. In the center of the star was a vaguely v-shaped rune. That rune he knew. He had seen it in Tilaria's Grimorie.

Eragon could have sworn his heart skipped a beat. That was a blood rune. Then the design was…

Tilaria and Daris were standing in a blood pentagram. Eragon watched in growing horror as Tilaria collapsed and Daris walked to stand by the v rune in the center. The core, where all the magic of the pentagram's spell would be channeled to. No, not spell, curse.

His father walked forward to the outer ring of the pentagram and Eragon, ignoring the danger he was putting himself in shouted down, "Father! It's a trap! Blood magic!"

Hallien whirled around at the voice, phaser raised, but saw Eragon. As he turned around he had stepped forward – past the pentagram's ring.

Daris did not hesitate. The lines of dried blood turned silver by the moonlight gained a red-black glow as the power of the pentagram awoke. The blood magic shrieked as it turned in on itself, turning a sickly green-yellow.

Blood magic – no, not blood, Fel Hallien realized. He tried to back up but with the pentagon awake he found he could not cross its rings. He was trapped.

* * *

><p><strong>Hi all my readers! (I really hope its plural) It's my 18th birthday today. I can't remember if the last time i posted was this Monday like i was supposed to. If i didn't you now know my excuse, if i did then you get extra because its my B-Day and now i'm an adult!<strong>

**Hallien's in trouble. He could really use a blood mage right about now. Tilaria isn't having much luck with the mindflares either and poor Eragon is trying to help but he didn't really do anything. **

**Light Elves can see in dim light well since their only light source has to filter through trees but they're d****iurnal (active during the day) so once the lights go out they're as hopeless as humans. We can't see well in the dark either and sight is our primary sense. That's why so many humans are scared of the dark. Light Elves are the same way and Daris's cursed pentagram charging itself would have put then on even more an edge since they're magic would have something very unnatural growing in strength.**


	12. 11 First Time's the Curse

"Father!" Eragon shouted again.

Daris looked up now, pinpointing Eragon. Eragon wisely shut up and crouched down again.

"Lieutenant." Hallien called over.

Rane, the only Lieutenant present, looked up.

"Get my son back to the palace. I will deal with this." Hallien knew that Daris was no match for him in a fight, but what about Daris charged with all the power of a pentagram? Worse, he knew this particular design.

Rane did not budge.

Kiri took a step towards where her prince was before Rane glanced her way, "hold," he ordered her, voice rough.

Hold? Was Rane crazy? "We have to get our Prince to a safer zone." Kiri hissed.

Rane's eyes were cold. Kiri hesitated. Something was very wrong here.

"Rane," Daris ordered, savoring Hallien's confusion. "Kill him."

Kiri stared at Daris but saw Rane salute him. Traitors, she realized, traitors both of them. She stepped forward, hand on her blade. Rane could not truly be debating obeying _that_ order.

Hallien raised his phaser to point at Daris. He never had switched it back to stun. "Lieutenant!" He shouted again.

Kiri stepped forward, not quite sure what to do. She was no match for Rane in a fight.

"Come now Kiri," Rane hummed. "Follow orders."

"Daris is not my king you traitor." She spat.

"Poor choice lover," Rane cooed, looking away.

The third Guard took a step closer to Kiri, blade in hand.

Kiri started to draw her blade then stopped. She stood there for the longest second, staring at Rane, then slowly looked down. The third guard's blade was sticking out of her chest, all the way to the hilt. She found it odd that the metal felt so cold going through her chest, colder then ice was supposed to be. Her eyesight failed and she collapsed, sliding off the blade.

Eragon felt ill.

"No!" Hallien spat, pulling the trigger. The pentagram reacted to the orb of plasma, and streamers of energy shot up from the lines of the design, attacking it, harmlessly absorbing it before it got near Daris.

Hallien felt ill now. This _was_ the same pentagram that he had used to defeat Anar when he was younger.

Daris held out his hand, dragging the phaser from Hallien's grip to hover in midair. It flashed once, yellow-green, then collapsed into all its metal pieces and the power cell. Fine, Hallien drew a dagger, he would do this the old fashioned way.

Fel magic, the green-yellow fire that surrounded them, condensed in Daris's palm. Daris bared new grown fangs and threw it. Daris launched a stun-hex at it but just like before, the only thing that could stop Arcane magic was Arcane magic.

He turned to see the fireball cross the dome's barriers and smash into the wall holding up Eragon's perch. Cracks ran up it as it half-collapsed. Eragon's shriek raked down Hallien's spine as the boy tumbled to the ground. Dust colored his hair and the wall partially collapsed on him, almost hiding him from view. He was unconscious, maybe worse. The two traitorous Guards walked towards him.

"Eragon!" Hallien shouted, slamming his hand against the shield to no avail. "Eragon!" He did not care about Tilaria but Eragon was his son and all he had left of his dear Anastasia.

Daris laughed, this was working out perfectly! He flicked his saber up, catching Hallien's blade as the king – former king soon – lunged at him. There was delicious murder in Hallien's eyes.

* * *

><p>Rane gazed at the prince sadly as he raised his blade. He personally had nothing against the boy but orders were orders. Hallien was trapped in the past. The future lay in the power of Svarta and the ruins of the Dark Elves for from those ruins, the light elves would rise above everyone – especially those Æsir.<p>

He heard a slash of a blade and thump of two things hitting the ground. Rane raised his blade on training turned instinct in time to catch the saber arcing towards him.

"Still alive lover?" He smiled.

Kiri was breathing hard but did not flinch from his blade. "Keep away from my Prince!" She spat, feeling the drain as she used what little magic she had to quicken the healing of her chest wound.

Rane smiled. He supposed it would not have been so amusing if Kiri had gone down without a fight. But she was the only thing standing between him and killing Eragon and he had a lot more training then she did.

* * *

><p>Hallien ducked under Daris's swing, feeling the sword cut into his shoulder. As he ducked he got behind Daris, he slammed his boot against the traitor's leg, and there was a satisfying snap as he broke both bones there. He twirled his dagger and sank it between Daris's second and third rib.<p>

Daris stifled a curse and lashed out at him with a concussive hex. Hallien's instincts saved him, snapping up shields, if an instant late. He was knocked of his feet and tumbled on the ground but did not die.

Daris reached up and pulled Hallien's dagger from his back, feeling his clothes grow heavy as the cloth absorbed the blood. "Bad move," he snarled. No mage was suicidal enough to mix blood and Fel but it seemed Daris was truly succumbing to the effects of Arcane addiction, insanity being one such side effect.

Daris's blood, where it touched the ground, made the pentagram turn red, like the stain spreading across Daris's back from the knife wound. Tendrils of red colored Daris's green-yellow eyes, the black of his pupil and white Scalia being completely overwhelmed by the artificial coloring. Daris looked down at the pentagram, shocked by what was happening.

The air gained an iron tang that burned Hallien's eyes and scalded his throat. He coughed, desperately trying to draw a breath but his lungs refused to work. That fool doesn't even know how to control it!

This was the power of Fel and blood together. Where blood magic alone paralyzed him, this combination – along with the fact that he could not breathe – pressed against his body. It paralyzed him once more, driving him down to his knees with the its twisted might. As with all Fel magic, it drew directly off the enemy's seidr to power itself; Daris did not lose a single touch of his magic.

Outside the dome and the decapitated Guard, Rane and Kiri had broken apart. Rane was holding his head, feeling the effects of the curse but Daris was sheltering him from the worst of it. Kiri was not so lucky and had sunk to her knees as she gasped for breath.

Rane smiled and picked up his sword, "Sorry lover. You picked the wrong side."

Daris laughed and raised his hands, strengthening the curse. "Bow! Bow all of you to the true power of magic. None of you can oppose me!" His veins glowed that sickly Fel green.

Hallien's magic hissed its defiance at the Arcane. No, Hallien growled to himself, no, not again. Yes, his magic seemed to respond, use me. The scars on his wrists burned but he would not turn to that magic again.

A blur, forgotten by everyone, raced up behind Daris and leaped onto his back. She hooked her restrainer cuffs under Daris's neck, digging them into his throat, cutting off his air supply. "You're not the only one here with Arcane magic." Tilaria hissed into his ear.

Daris gasped and clawed at his throat, the shock of suddenly not being able to breathe disrupting his curse.

As Rane brought his sword down, Kiri snapped her arm up, freed of her paralysis, feeling the numbing shock as her gauntlet took the hit. She lashed out with a foot, kicking Rane just below the kneecap.

"Sorry lover," she mimicked, crawling on all fours for a pace to retrieve her sword.

Rane stumbled back with a curse and swung again. Kiri let her armor take the hit as she curled her fingers around her sword's hilt. She rolled and stood, quickly darting to stand in front of Eragon once more.

Snarling, Daris grabbed Tilaria's top and bent low, throwing her over his head.

Hallien stepped to one side so Tilaria would not crash into him, ignoring the girls gasp as she hit the ground hard, unable to put her hands out in front of her to brace herself. The song of the darker side of his magic, the side he had not used since he was Tilaria's age, called to him, but Hallien stamped it down with effort, resuming his attack on Daris.

Tilaria lost her breath as she landed on her back. She could feel the bits of metal from Hallien's phaser digging into her back, could feel the deadly warmth as blood stained her clothes from scrapes from her bad landing. Thanks to her cuffs she could not even use the spilled blood. She wanted to do something but knew that it was impossible to fight with the cuffs restraining her and her magic. Her eyes lighted on the phaser's power cell next to her and she smiled.

Daris stumbled back, his cheek bleeding, limping. With his magic augmentation interrupted, Daris was losing.

Hallien was an amazing fighter, moving so quick his outline blurred slightly. He was not the best mage but few could best him in combat. He parried only Daris's slashes that posed a threat, letting the rest pass by even one that came so close it cut his bangs. While Daris was mostly missing, nearly every one of Hallien's slashes landed.

Daris didn't stand a chance, Tilaria smiled. Not in a fair fight he didn't – but Daris didn't play fair.

Tilaria jumped when she saw Kiri slam into the shield near her. The Sublieutenant slumped to the ground and did not stir. Kiri's loyalty may be unwavering but she was little more than a cadet and had already suffered one serious injury.

Rane smirked and walked over.

"Hey!" Tilaria shouted, banging her cuffed hands against the forceshield. It rippled at the impact but did nothing more. "Leave her alone!"

Rane did not even look up.

"Rane!" Daris shouted his words strangled as he managed to shove Hallien back a few paces. "Get the boy!"

Rane glanced at him in annoyance then towards Eragon and flicked his empty hand. The stones on top of Eragon moved and Rane grabbed the boy's collar – regardless of any injuries he may have – and hauled him up into the air.

Hallien had Daris by his shirt but dropped him when he saw Rane and tried to step towards him… only to be stopped by the pentagram's forceshield. "Tilaria!" He spat, his nose now sore.

Tilaria snapped to attention in shock, had he just called her by her real name?

"Get this shield down!"

Tilaria hesitated.

"She cannot," Daris gloated, "not with my cuffs on her."

Hallien dragged Daris off the ground but Daris tssked. "You hurt me you are short one son"

Hallien froze, eyes flickering to Rane. Rane pressed his blade against Eragon's throat with enough pressure to make it bleed.

Hallien hesitated then dropped Daris. Daris was not able to land on his feet but stood quickly, brushing off the front of his tunic with a miffed expression.

Hallien turned to Rane, "and you follow this Æsir?"

"Yes," Rane replied instantly. "You are a strong leader but your time is past, Daris is the future."

"A future of Arcane madness." Hallien growled. "You would destroy our people by following him."

Daris scoffed. "You must destroy the old to create the new. Not only will we gain magic that no mage can counter just image the technology… Harrow-Class warships by the dozens, hundreds of fighters. _Nemesis_ alone had the power to destroy an entire realm." His voice was wistful with want.

"_Nemesis_?" Hallien scoffed. "_Nemesis_!_ Nemesis_ was the flagship of the entire Kaldorei fleet. It was captioned by Prince Malekith the Accursed! Do you want to do as he did and wipe out Alfheim? The Dark Elves destroyed themselves with their ships!"

"We are not Dark Elves!" Daris snarled. "We are Light Elves, the pinnacle of evolution among the Nine Realms. The Dark Elves were barbarians, we can control it! Asgard would not even know what we are doing, you think the patrol a dead realm?"

"I very much doubt Odin is foolish enough to bother." Hallien responded dryly, his emotions under control again. "You cannot believe that after five millennia that there is anything worth scavenging. You are searching for technology that does not exist."

"Your phaser exists!" Daris spat. "And Malekith escaped aboard _Nemesis_, do you truly wish to face down _Nemesis_ without another starship?"

"One ship – even _Nemesis_ – is no threat. As for my phaser," Hallien glanced at the pile of scrap metal. "It has just become extinct." He noticed that the power cell was gone. He flicked his eyes up to Tilaria where she hovered on the edge of the seal, helpless to do anything. The halfbreed moved the fingers of her left hand and Hallien saw a glitter of blue. She mouthed the word 'overload' to him.

Hallien knew one thing that girl was insane but it might just work. He was in no mood to trust that murderer but he needed to get the forceshield down – or blow it up. "Drop the forceshield, I will say that just once."

Daris stood in front of the forceshield the Fel green reflected in his eyes and veins. "I will not, and the only one who can is still cuffed."

Fine, Hallien thought and twirled his hand. A small orb of yellow sparks danced in his cupped palm. Even this basic spell almost dropped him to his knees again, the pentagram had taken too much of his magic.

Daris stared at the sparks in Hallien's palm. "A stun-hex!" He laughed, and he calls _me_ crazy. "What do you intend to do with that?"

Hallien smiled, "this." He flicked his fingers toward Tilaria as the girl threw the powercell on an intercept course.

"No!" Daris howled, realizing too late what Hallien intended to do.

The two hit. For a moment it looked like a little gloworb, an innocent thing of light. Then it exploded.

In the distant past, before the Dark Elves made themselves extinct, they took care of what settings their phasers were on. They did not often jam them, putting the power flow in a never ending loop in on itself. Overloading their phaser like that was dangerous but shattering the powercell with a hex, especially with the volatile magic of Fel surrounding them was suicide.

Shockwaves of pure energy ripped out around the orb, shattering the dome and scattering the Fel magic. An explosion of this magnitude converted the matter of the power cell to energy, and there is an almost infinite amount of energy in even the smallest bit of matter. That meant a lot of energy.

Tilaria and Hallien were thrown to the opposite sides of the courtyard and Daris, foolishly standing, took a shockwave to the chest that flung him to what was left of the wall that Eragon had been perched in. Rane dropped Eragon and tried to run only to be lifted off his feet and tossed carelessly sent tumbling to rest half on top of Daris.

The courtyard around the shattered powercell cracked and began to cave in, opening up fault lines with no bottom in sight.

Then the explosion ended. All was silent. Or Tilaria assumed it was silent, she could not hear anything over the ringing in her ears. Her body stay where it lay, sore from the crash and in shocked awe from the explosion. Slowly, Tilaria coaxed her body to pay attention and sat up. Pain laced up her left arm. Irritatingly, Tilaria could not even run her fingers over her arm to locate the break as it was broken.

On the far side of the clearing, all the way back inside the palace, Hallien stood. He ran his fingers through his dust and blood caked hair and laughed, ignoring the throbbing pain in his temples that he had gotten when he had cracked his head a moment ago.

Tilaria looked down at her hands and was surprised to see that the explosion had cracked the cuffs slightly. She reached out for her magic and felt it warm her chest. She still could not use her Arcane but some of her magic was free. It was enough to heal her arm. It was ironic how good of a healer she was.

The healing magic traced down Tilaria's spine and spiderwebbed throughout her body, re-energizing her. She sighed slightly, glad that she was able to repair her hearing in the process. Now she had the strength to stand and look around.

The unconscious forms of Rane and Daris were heaped under the wall's shadow. Kiri was by the lines that the pentagram had scorched into the stone upon awakening and Eragon was lying near Rane and Daris. None were moving.

Hallien laughed softly, catching Tilaria's attention. "You," he muttered "are more insane than your father."

Tilaria was unsure if that was a compliment or an insult but caught him say the word father. Hallien had always told her that no one knew who her father was. He must be a compulsive liar or something Tilaria thought, taking the few steps needed to get to Kiri.

Kiri was breathing but Tilaria could sense that aside from blood loss and a very bad concussion she seemed fine. Ah, not fine, her spine had been damaged. Elves had very sensitive spinal cords, especially the top two vertebrae of their neck – a break there was lethal. But Kiri's damage was not.

Instead of burning her magic healing Kiri, Tilaria stepped back and focused her magic on her cuffs. If they were damaged enough she should be able to make them shatter like before at her 'trial.' It did not work – of course.

Hallien walked to stand in front of the unconscious traitors. He stared at them and heard the half-breed say "We should cuff Daris at least before they wake up. You can use my cuffs on him; they are still hexed to stop Arcane magic."

Hallien looked up at her. She was standing awkwardly near Kiri, handcuffed hands in front of her.

"I know you can get them off," she muttered.

Halien glared at her. "I have no intention of setting you free murderer."

Tilaria's eyes turned hard. "If you had realized you had a traitor on the council, he would not have forced me to learn Arcane."

"Oh yes he forced you to learn." Hallien sneered.

"I was under the impression that you know firsthand how addictive Arcane is." Tilaria threw one of her aces. "Daris mentioned how you turned Anar's Palace to ruins."

Hallien went very quiet. The chains around his wrists were ice cold but the scars under them were hot. "That was a long time ago." Tilaria was, Hallien realized, just like him in many ways. Arlen had helped him to stop using the Arcane magic of blood. But she had no one to help her. Maybe that was one reason why he hated her so much, she was just like him when he was that age. This was no elf, she reminded herself. This was a half breed of the highest degree. Releasing her could not end well. "You were protecting your own life, aiding me in stopping Daris changes nothing."

Tilaria glowered but said nothing more.

Hallien clicked his fingers. Turning that halfbreed loose was one thing he was not going to do. Letting these traitors live was another. If they had just gone after him, Hallien might allow them to be captured alive, but that decision had vanished when they had threatened his son. A battlegrade hex glittered in his hands.

Tilaria looked up at him again, not comprehending, but then she understood. "Hallien, don't," she warned.

Hallien threw the hex. It was aimed above Rane and Daris at the still standing wall above them. The same one Daris had partially collapsed when he had knocked Eragon to the ground.

For the barest instant, Tilaria felt a flare of hope that the hex had not damaged anything. She could hear the fall of many boots drawing closer. Half of Alfheim had likely felt the effects of Daris's pentagram and Guards were closing in.

But then the tower rumbled. A crack appeared in the side and bricks fell. Tilaria raised her cuffed hands to fend off clouds of dust as the wall fully collapsed on Rane and Daris's unconscious forms. The ground started rumbling and Tilaria could not resist glaring at Hallien. She had also never experienced anything like this and fell to the ground, trying to put her hands out to brace herself only to realize that she could not do that cuffed and landed awkwardly.

The noise accelerated, like a large branch being torn from its tree but the noise went on. She could feel it in her chest, in her bones, echoing.

Hallien backed up. "Earthshake." He whispered. Idiot! No wonder that halfbreed had said no, I was the one to destabilize this part of Alfheim's surface when I destroyed Anar's palace, I should have known better!

A crack tore open, midway between the two conscious elves.

Tilaria looked around and almost fell down one of the faults as it opened by her feet. She backed up warily. It looked like the ruins were about to be ruined. Another fault opened, this one tearing the courtyard almost in half, and she saw the two traitors fall into it. So much for prisoners. Oh well, elves did not take prisoners. Superheated gases were belching up from some of the faults. That was her cue to go. She jumped over a fault, landing on the ball of her feet, and hearing the ground cracking, twirled 90 degrees and repeated the jump.

"My king!" An elf shouted as he raced forward to the courtyard to see Hallien staring, not looking at anything, but just staring. The elf stepped forward grabbed his king's arm. "Hallien it is Myrin, Hallien."

Hallien's eyes flickered from the courtyard, "The Commander of my Immortal Guard." His voice was distant.

"Yes, my friend," Myin nodded.

"Do you remember the last time we were here? The Palace before I destroyed it, and you killed Anar." Figures, Hallien thought with a sigh, Anar and Daris were both traitors, like father like son. And both of them made their last stand here in this courtyard.

"Yes sir, I remember." Myrin nodded. "Sir, what happened?"

"Daris is just like Anar, treason runs in the blood, like father like son."

"I know," Myrin whispered, looking down. He knew all right and what an idiot he was. Then he saw Kiri. Myrin flicked his hand towards Kiri, "get her!" One of the Guards nodded.

Tilaria went to take another step back only to fall into a fault. She yelped and grabbed the ridge's edge with her cuffed hands, pulling herself back up through sheer force of will. Her eyes flickered left and right. This would never work. She had to get away from here, back to solid ground.

As her eyes flickered, she saw a Guard pick up Kiri and another one standing by Hallien. And she saw Eragon, one arm lying inside a fault, still unconscious. Her dance across the courtyard as she tried to find a way away from here had brought her closer to him. Eragon was about to fall into the rift.

"Eragon!" She heard Hallien shout as the king broke free of his trance.

Tilaria was closer to him. She did not think, just ran. The elves could say whatever they wanted about her, and most of it was probably true, but they could never doubt her loyalty to her foster brother. Elves could jump eight feet in the air and twice that for distance without trying.

Tilaria was trying, and between that and the adrenaline she was able to reach him just in time to grab one of his hands as the rest of him rolled into the rift. She started to try and pull him over the edge. Her sensitive ears, even with the rumbling of the ground, could hear the edge she was standing on starting to crack. She brushed it aside, Eragon first. This would be so much easier if her hands were free.

Hallien himself was closing the distance leaving an annoyed Myrin behind. With the Immortal Guards armor, none were agile enough to be able to traverse the courtyard.

The edge started to give as Tilaria managed to pull Eragon up and throw him at Hallien. The king caught his son, stepping back from the boy's slight weight.

Tilaria tried to do as he did, and step away but the entire edge suddenly crumbled. She made a desperate grab for the edge and… missed… She fell only a few more feet into the chasm before she flicked a dagger out of her vanguard and jammed it into the cliff face.

There was shouting from above the chasm, Hallien ordering the Guards back, away. They were going to leave her even after saving Eragon. It didn't truly surprise her. Dangling from a cliff face suspended by just a blade was a precarious situation at best but doing it cuffed without magic was impossible to get out of.

Tilaria supposed fair was fair. She had tried to kill Hallien twice already, once when she got back to Alfheim and again earlier. Now he was returning the favor.

That awful rumbling from the – what had Hallien called it? – Earthshake had stopped but her dagger still slipped. Was this how it would end? At least Eragon was safe.

Odd, Tilaria thought, her eyesight had shadows along the edge. She knew why. Over exhaustion.

The downside of using Arcane magic would leave mages far more exhausted then normal magic; it taxed their magic so much. When she had escaped from her 'trial' she had much blood magic. Worse she had never had a chance to go into a deep rest – or coma as the Æsir would say – that she had needed to recuperate, she really had not gotten any sleep at all this past week. All she had been running on was adrenaline and stubbornness. It had finally caught up to her.

The death grip on her dagger loosened as her body shut itself down. Her consciousness faded away and her grip released. She did not feel herself falling but had one last thought before the end.

_Thor, Loki… I said I would be back on Asgard in a week. I'm sorry I could not keep my promise._

* * *

><p><strong>Oh, what happens to her next? Wait and see...<strong>

**If you are curious about what Hallien was talking about Anar i am writing '_Anar's Ruins_' which tells about how Anar tried to take over Alfheim and how Hallien, Arlen, and Myrin stopped him when they were teenagers. Still writing it so i'm not posting it yet. Once i'm done, i'll post.**


	13. 12 Aftershock

When consciousness deigned her to awaken she found she was in a different place. She found she could not remember what had happened to her last.

"Kiri?" A voice whispered her name. "Sublieutenant can you hear me?"

Kiri blinked at the voice, was that Eragon? She tried to sit up. "Eragon?" Strong hands restrained her, shadows crowded in her vision standing near her. "Where is my Prince? Eragon!"

One of the shadows was trying to say something but Kiri did not care what it said. "Let go! Where is Rane? He is trying to kill my Prince! Let go! Eragon!" Kiri wrenched an arm free and lashed out, feeling that she had landed a hit. One of the shadows by her disappeared from sight.

She felt grim victory, but only for a moment. Another figure touched her forehead and she felt shadows clouding her vision again. "No!" Unconsciousness again…

* * *

><p>It seemed like hours later when Kiri opened her eyes again. She tried to move her arms but failed. Curious she lifted her head slowly. Twin cuffs of gold energy bound her hands to the bed she was on. Bed? Oh, she was in the Healer's Ward. Her memory suddenly came back. Eragon. She struggled against her restraints for a moment before stopping. She was not going to get out that way.<p>

Someone would have to check up on her.

The nine races of the Realms had little in common, but one exception to that was PBS – Post Battle Shock. PBS happened when a soldier was rendered unconscious in the heat of battle. When they awoke again, usually back at their camp in a healers care, they thought they were still in battle or in enemy hands and fought back as such. Healers, allies, and fellow patients sudden became the enemy. The only real cure was to knock them out. Nine out of ten times, when they reawoke their mind would have caught up to the situation and they would relax, but for that one out often time, they always woke up restrained.

Kiri hoped the elf she had hit earlier had not been injured too badly. She blocked all thought of Anar's Ruins, Rane, and her Prince – it was no good worrying about it, she would find out sooner or later – and made herself run complex equations in her head. It was a child's trick but effective.

Sometime passed before the door to her room opened. A young alycote poked her head in, saw Kiri awake, and froze.

"I won't bite," Kiri assured the girl. The girl disappeared.

Kiri counted 83.6 seconds before the door opened again. She was surprised to see Alyndra, the Healer in charge of the Royal Family. What was she doing checking on her, a measly Sublieutenant? Oops, she thought when she saw that Alyndra's cheek was bruised. So that was who she hit.

"Feeling better?" Alyndra asked, walking over.

"Yes sir," Kiri assured. The cuffs made of energy dissipated.

"You may sit up, slowly." Alyndra ordered.

Kiri did so, her chest hurt. That was no surprise. She may have used her bit of magic to heal the sword wound but she was no medic, she may have done more harm than good in the long run. "My Prince, where is he? Is he…"

"Eragon is fine, a severe concussion and fractured ribs, some damage to his spine, but nothing permanent. He will make a full recovery." Alyndra now assured. "I gave him something to rest but he is in his room. He has awoken a few times but has manly rested."

When Kiri opened her mouth to ask how long she had been unconscious, Alyndra said "two days."

Kiri let that sink in.

"King Hallien is fine as well." Alyndra continued. "His life force was badly taxed but will be fine. From the way he spoke of it, you are the only reason Eragon survived long enough for help to arrive."

"I was protecting my Prince," Kiri responded. If she ever had a son, she would want him to be like Eragon. "What about Daris?" And Rane…

"After you were rendered unconscious Hallien destroyed the pentagram. Apparently," Alyndra noted dryly, "he dropped a tower on them. There was a large earthshake that opened many faults. The traitors fell down one. Eragon would have fallen down another had the halfbreed not saved him."

Tilaria? Kiri thought that was odd, then she realized it was not. Eragon's obvious affection for her had to be so strong for some reason. "What about her?"

"The halfbreed saved Eragon from falling, then fell herself when the edge gave. She gave her life for Eragon's." Alyndra answered sharply as if the answer did not please her. "So Hallien said."

A life for a life. That seemed fair to Kiri.

"There are clothes," Alyndra waved a hand to a bench set against the wall. "You are dismissed. You will be off duty for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Return here then. If your injuries have recovered sufficiently by then you will be restored to light duty. No training before then." That was Alyndra, never one to mince enemies when she could mince words and cut your ears.

Kiri nodded.

Alyndra walked briskly out, she had others to tend to.

* * *

><p>The mighty King of Alfheim sat by his son's bed, shoulders slouched, head bowed, turning his crown in his hands, trying to keep tears at bay.<p>

The Emerald Crown was a beautiful thing. It was made by a ring of emerald leaves, emblazoned with gold. The Light Elves sun glittered in the middle, made of topaz and amber. Never had Hallien loathed it so much.

For this, Hallien thought, Daris tried to kill my son. If that halfbreed – if Tilaria – had not grabbed Eragon he would have… No, stop thinking about it.

Was this how Odin felt? Hallien's informers on Asgard had told him that Prince Thor had been injured in Arlen's attack. Arlen's attack, ha, Hallien should never have ordered Arlen to kill the Princes. Now the one he considered his brother was gone.

"Father?"

Hallien's head jerked up to see Eragon awake. He tried a smile, unsure how well he did and asked, "Awake at last?" Eragon had been drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Yes father," Eragon tried to sit up but Hallien stopped him.

"Alyndra's orders are for you to stay in bed." Even Hallien was not sure he would risk disobeying one of his healer's orders.

Eragon lay back down, eyes flittering around his room. He was confused. "Where's Tilly?"

Hallien knew that question was coming. He brushed some of Eragon's hair from his son's eyes, stalling.

"Father is she all right?"

Hallien gazed at Eragon, silver-blue eyes soft. All the answers that he had come up with to explain why Tilaria was not here keeping an eye on Eragon slipped away.

Eragon sat up, forcing Hallien to lower his hand. "I know you do not like her because her blood is mixed but she saved me. Isn't that what Alyndra said?"

Eragon had come around just after he had been put in Alyndra's care and that dratted medic had told him about the battle, but not about Tilaria's fate.

"Eragon, I, I." Hallien could not say it, could not speak.

"Did she fall after she saved me?"

Hallien's hands tightened on the Crown to hide the trembling.

"Did you let her fall?" Eragon asked, voice serious. He expected Hallien to contradict him, expected him to say that Tilaria was fine, or that he had tossed her in the dungeon again like he always did.

Hallien didn't contradict Eragon. He couldn't. In order to make some movement, he set the Crown by Eragon's bed. "After she pulled you away from the edge and got you to me, the edge… gave way…"

Eragon held his breath, going very still.

"I was too far away." Hallien whispered, reaching over to touch his on.

Eragon slapped his hand away. "Do not. Do not dare." Eragon warned.

"Eragon…"

"NO!" Eragon's voice jumped a few octaves. "You did not even try to save her, did you?"

Hallien tried to say something but his throat was suddenly dry. He could not defend from this truth.

"Get out," Eragon whispered.

"What?" Hallien stared. He did not just hear that.

"Get out," Eragon repeated louder, "get out, get out, get out!" His voice was a shriek when he said the last one and he shoved Hallien back.

Hallien had to stand up and back up to keep from falling. He stared at Eragon in shock. Never had his son shown anger toward him. He did as Eragon bid, leaving the Crown on the nightstand.

Eragon managed to wait until Hallien closed the door before he started crying. "Tilly…" he hiccupped. Tilaria was more than an older sister to him, she was the closest thing he had to a mother.

His curtains were drawn back and a shaft of rare sunlight pierced the leafy canopy that hid the capital, lighting on the Emerald Crown.

Eragon stared at his father's crown, his crown one day, for a long moment before tearing his sheet off and getting out of bed. His first step slipped, and he landed on his stomach. He leapt to his feet in an instant and snatched up the crown, ignoring the pain in his temples and chest. The doors to his balcony opened magically at his will and the elfling stepped onto the balcony.

He pulled his arm back and threw the Emerald Crown as hard as he could. It glittered as it fell.

* * *

><p><strong>Did i seriously kill my OC that is more or less me in my series? Yes. You are not the only one that will have to reread that. Some of my friends i run my stories by gave me a weird look to. Just keep reading, it will make semi-sense. <strong>

**I thought about making the elves crown have a star in the center instead of a sun because Tolkien always described them as having 'a star on their brow' but stars fit the _Dark_ Elves a lot better then the _Light_ Elves and those two races are just always trying to kill each other. Any similarity between them they destroy themselves. **


End file.
